'Mayotte abandoned years ago': Island felt 'forgotten, neglected' during drought & migration crisis

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00:00Well, originally scheduled to stay just on Thursday, Emmanuel Macron ultimately decided

00:12to stay overnight on the devastated island of Mayotte, precisely to convince residents

00:17that he had heard their anger.

00:19Well, those extra few hours there arguably made the situation even worse.

00:23First, the president was recorded using really rather disparaging language towards residents,

00:28insisting that they would have been worse off if they weren't a part of France.

00:32And then just hours later, the French president was heckled again by locals who complained

00:37that they still have not received food and water deliveries, and this nearly a week after

00:42the storm.

00:43Take a listen.

00:47Don't start dividing people.

00:48If you turn people against each other, we're screwed, because you're happy to be part of

00:52France, because if you weren't part of France, you'd be 10 times more screwed.

00:57Well, in the face of a perceived absence of the French government, residents of Mayotte

01:02are taking relief efforts into their own hands with a wave of grassroots solidarity.

01:08Florent Marchais reports.

01:11At this restaurant, there are no menus, plates or bills.

01:15There are charging stations powered by two generators.

01:18Dozens of people are here recharging their phones and laptops.

01:22After Cyclone Chido struck the French island of Mayotte, electricity has become a precious

01:26resource.

01:27Many people need help.

01:29There's no water, no electricity.

01:31I met people who are getting hungry.

01:33It's getting very critical.

01:36It's a good thing we have this place to keep the outside world informed.

01:39But if it wasn't for this place, I don't know what we would have done.

01:44In order to help as many locals as possible, the restaurant is offering its resources.

01:49The generators at Coco Beach run on gas originally intended for tourist boat tours.

01:54All unnecessary energy consumption has been cut.

01:57To avoid waste, only freezers remain plugged in.

02:02It's all about solidarity.

02:03Everything is free.

02:05It's a place where people come together.

02:07People look for comfort.

02:08They can drink, eat, work.

02:10And children can play on the other side.

02:12The restaurant's address is passed on by word of mouth.

02:15More arrive by the day.

02:18While waiting for government-promised aid, these initiatives are the only way to keep

02:21up local morale.

02:24Well for many observers, the anger across Mayotte is simply the logical conclusion to

02:28years of a widespread sense of neglect.

02:32For more, we're going to cross now to Nathalie Morgodovic.

02:35And thank you very much for joining us.

02:38I want to start by asking you rather bluntly, has Mayotte been abandoned by the central

02:43French government?

02:47I think we could say that it has been abandoned many years ago already.

02:52So yes, I would say that since Mayotte became a département d'outre-mer, an overseas département

03:02in 2011, the hope that was raised or that were raised for the Maoris to immediately

03:11get the same kind of standard of living as La Réunion Island, the other French overseas

03:16département in the Indian Ocean, obviously that couldn't be done.

03:22And this feeling of being forgotten or neglected has always been there since.

03:30And for example, just this summer, the terrible drought that took place in Mayotte, the response

03:39to that was quite slow and not sufficient.

03:44And the feeling of, you know, being forgotten was already there, plus obviously the attempt

03:53to fight against the illegal immigration, especially with the change of law or the wish

04:04to change of law, for example, when it comes to who can actually get the French citizenship,

04:12being born on a French land is not enough.

04:18I mean, it won't entitle you automatically to the French citizenship.

04:25And so the law has been slightly amended in Mayotte.

04:29So a requirement of three months before the birth of a baby in Mayotte, one of the parents

04:39has to have legal documents that allow them to stay, to be in Mayotte legally.

04:48Elsewhere, it's one month.

04:51But you see, that slight change didn't really make much difference.

04:56And the Maoris are really overwhelmed by this immigration.

05:00Nearly 50% of the population are immigrants.

05:04And among these 50%, a large majority are actually illegal immigrants, which makes things

05:13extremely difficult for the Maoris themselves, which would explain a little bit why more

05:18and more young Maoris actually leave Mayotte and go to La Réunion.

05:24Dr. Markutovic, I do want to continue, expand upon that point on immigration.

05:29But before we get there, I did really want to also zoom in on some of the latest developments

05:33we've seen in Mayotte.

05:35That's because over the past 24 hours, Emmanuel Macron's discourse has probably arguably

05:40inflamed tensions.

05:41And of course, beyond this question of immigration, the president saying that if the island were

05:45not French, it would have been in an even worse off situation.

05:49He ostensibly yelling at people for even complaining about the hardship.

05:55His words were really quite crude.

05:57I'm sure this is likely to be received as almost colonial era discourse.

06:03You could you could say that, yes, indeed, or a discourse of someone who is completely

06:08out of touch with reality in Mayotte, at least.

06:14In unlike its neighbors, nonetheless, Mayotte, of course, voted to remain a part of France

06:19in the 70s before later becoming a full overseas department in 2011.

06:24Do you think that this growing frustration, this growing sense, like you say, of a president

06:29that is totally out of touch with the reality for people on the ground could ultimately

06:34lead to its break from France, at least in the medium to long term?

06:39No, definitely not, because the Comoros Islands, which initially, you know, that was a French

06:46colony with four islands.

06:48And in 74, the referendum in Comoros became in 46, it became an overseas territory with

06:57the right to self-determination.

06:59And in 74, they asked for this right to self-determination to be implemented.

07:06And three out of the four islands voted for independence.

07:11And Mayotte remained French, wanted to remain French, and did remain French.

07:16And the Comoros Islands since then have always claimed that this wasn't new, and that Mayotte

07:22should have stayed in the Comoros.

07:24Mayotte doesn't want to be part of the Comoros anymore.

07:29And therefore, they know that, first of all, they don't want to become independent.

07:36They wouldn't sustain, financially it would be a disaster, even worse than now.

07:42So Macron is not completely wrong when he says that, but he shouldn't have said it that

07:46way.

07:48And the fear, so there would be a double fear for for Maoris if they were to become independent,

07:54that financially they wouldn't be able to sustain viability.

08:00And second, the Comoros Island would come and grab them immediately, which would make

08:05things even worse.

08:08We have just a little bit of time left, Dr. Mikulovic, so I want to finish with with

08:13a final question, because you are an expert in the relationship between France and its

08:17territories in the South Pacific, specifically that's of course New Caledonia, French Polynesia,

08:22Wallace and Fortuna.

08:24These territories are of course equally vulnerable to extreme weather events like the ones that

08:29we have seen in Mayotte.

08:30Do you think that what we're seeing is a preview to what could happen in the South Pacific?

08:34I mean, from a political perspective, do people in these territories feel abandoned

08:39as well?

08:40Well, in New Caledonia, it was not a cyclone.

08:44It was a rebellion, a riot of the population in May, since May, actually, in New Caledonia.

08:51It's calming down now.

08:53And they have destroyed a lot of buildings and supermarkets, et cetera, schools, et cetera.

09:02So that was not a cyclone.

09:04That was a social riot, a political riot in New Caledonia.

09:09And they do feel, half of them could feel a little bit abandoned.

09:15They want more help from France.

09:17And the other half of New Caledonia, they want to be even more abandoned by France.

09:22They want their independence.

09:23And they wouldn't mind to face, to have to face any natural disaster that could occur,

09:32because obviously, the international organizations and the EU would be there also to provide

09:39help, including the neighbors, obviously, Australia, New Zealand, et cetera.

09:44Dr. Natalie Morgunovic, senior lecturer at Aston University in the United Kingdom, thank

09:49you so much for joining us today.

09:50That's unfortunately all we have time for.

09:52My pleasure.

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