Mayotte: Deputy Estelle Youssouffa reacts to the suspension of the destruction of the "Talus 2" shantytown

2023-04-25 06:00:30

Published on 25/04/2023 08:00

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The judicial court of Mamoudzou, in Mayotte, has suspended until further notice the operation to destroy the Talus 2 shantytown in the Majicavo district, in the commune of Koungou.

“I am appalled, but not surprised”laments on Tuesday April 25 on franceinfo Estelle Youssouffa, LIOT deputy for the 1st district of Mayotte, after the decision taken by the Mamoudzou judicial court to suspend the operation to destroy the “Talus 2” slum in the Majicavo district, in the commune of Koungou.

MP Estelle Youssouffa claims to have “the feeling of having justice against us”. She accuses “Justice in Mayotte to be particularly lenient with regard to minors who sow terror in Mayotte”. She also points “associations and part of the ecosystem in Paris” who try, according to her, “to use Mayotte to settle accounts with Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin and the government” and for “to advance the rights of foreigners in Mayotte because it is favorable ground”.

Slums, “unhealthy areas, dangerous for the inhabitants”

Estelle Youssouffa recalls that the “Wuambushu” operation should not consist solely of the destruction of a shanty town: “It is also an operation to maintain order, arrest gang leaders and deport foreigners in an irregular situation”. MP LIOT hopes that the police will remain mobilized “to enforce court decisions regarding eviction on private land”. “In Mayotte, about 5,000 hectares are occupied illegally, so there is work”she says.

>> “We don’t even know where to go”: in Mayotte, the disarray of the inhabitants of the first shantytown targeted by the “Wuambushu” operation

Estelle Youssouffa describes slums as being “unhealthy areas, dangerous for the inhabitants who are in and around”. She judges this environment “dangerous in terms of health because there is mud, they are epidemic centers and they are refuges for the gang leaders who sow terror in Mayotte”. MP LIOT therefore calls for the destruction of these slums to “to regain the ground lost by the Republic in these lawless zones” et “recover these illegally occupied public and private lands”. “It is essential that fear change sides”she says, referring to “difficulties on the ground“and an “unimaginable insecurity” in a city.

The deputy LIOT of Mayotte also says to herself “worried about the silence” of the Quai d’Orsay vis-à-vis the Comoros who refused Monday the docking of a ship carrying in particular migrants from Mayotte. Estelle Youssouffa reminds us that there are ways to put pressure on the Comoros. She mentions in particular the possibility of “freeze the assets of Comorians in Mayotte, freeze visas for Comorian nationals”. “When we call back the Chinese ambassador for his remarks on Crimea, I always wait for us to call back the Comoros ambassador who is walking around Paris”she laments.