France to continue Mayotte anti-migration operation ‘as long as necessary’
ANKARA (AA) – France has vowed to continue efforts to expel irregular migrants from the island of Mayotte, one of its offshore territories in the Indian Ocean.
“There is no date, and we will leave the number of police officers and gendarmes necessary for Mayotte to once again be a classic and magnificent island,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told broadcaster Europe 1 on the initiative, dubbed Operation Wuambushu.
“We will continue this Wuambushu operation for as long as necessary,” Darmanin asserted.
Paris launched the operation on Tuesday morning to expel irregular migrants from Mayotte which is located off southeastern Africa near Madagascar.
The operation is targeting the slums on Mayotte where the migrants have taken up residence, with 1,800 police and gendarmerie officers deployed to evacuate the shantytowns.
Darmanin said the security forces had arrested 25 suspects.
Most of the migrants are from the neighboring archipelago nation of Comoros, according to media reports.
Commenting on a suggestion by a French politician to halt the €150 million ($165.6 million) of development aid that France provides to Comoros, Darmanin argued this would only push Comoros into the arms of Russia.
In a 2019 agreement, Comoros committed to cooperation with France on migration issues in exchange for development aid.
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