The Minister of the Interior communicated new instructions to the prefect of Mayotte on Wednesday.
The authorities must now organize “group flights” to return nationals of the Democratic Republic of Congo to their country.
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The first steps of the Barnier government
It didn’t take long for the tone to harden on the Beauvau side. Barely appointed to the government, Bruno Retailleau has already taken very strict measures concerning Mayotte. “From this month of October, the prefect of Mayotte, he has been instructed, will organize group flights to be able to deport foreigners in an irregular situation to the Democratic Republic of Congo”declared the former boss of LR senators during questions to the government in the National Assembly.
In detail, the Interior Minister’s entourage told AFP that four group flights had been organized since February and that there are “at least three planned for the month of October alone to partially empty the administrative detention center” of the archipelago. Furthermore, cooperation with the Democratic Republic of Congo is “excellent”he indicated, announcing in passing “bilateral security agreements with countries” from the African Great Lakes area (DRC therefore, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania) for “stop the flow” migrants in the region.
As a reminder, almost half of the 321,000 inhabitants of Mayotte do not have French nationality. Since the end of the 2010s, this overseas territory has had to deal with the arrival of hundreds of people from the African Great Lakes, in particular from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The latter return clandestinely each year after a trip by “kwassa” (boat) from the coasts of East Africa, Madagascar or the neighboring Comoros.
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Last year, the installation of these migrants in a makeshift camp near a stadium in Mamoudzou caused tensions with locals and a series of blockages, making it necessary to take new measures.
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