Politics

Comoros President, Azali wants talks with France over planned expulsion of Mayotte migrants

Published

1 year ago

April 23, 2023

Comoros President, Azali Assoumani wants a diplomatic discourse with the French government over plans to expel all illegal migrants from the French island of Mayotte, most of whom are Comorians.

The president of the Indian Ocean territory, while speaking on Saturday, insisted Comoros would not accept any of the migrants.

“In regards to the situation in Mayotte, I would like to assure you, my dear compatriots of the four islands, that the path chosen by the government is that of establishing communication with our partner France,” Assoumani said.

Assoumani added that his government “hopes the French side will take into account the position of the Comorian government on the territorial dispute between our country and France on the Comorian island of Mayotte.

“We favour the pursuit of new perspectives in order to find a solution to this unfortunate dispute which has lasted for more than forty years while respecting international law and the well-understood interests of our two friendly countries.”

Mayotte is a region and single territorial collectivity of France located in the northern part of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Southeastern Africa, between Northwestern Madagascar and Northeastern Mozambique.

Comoros is concerned about the possible migrant crisis as it is located in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of East Africa.

About half of Mayotte’s 350,000 residents lack French nationality according to the French National Institute of Statistics (INSEE), while a third of the island’s foreign residents were born there.

Although the French minister of Interior and Overseas is yet to set a precise date for the operations, the minister, Gérald Darmanin revealed that 1,800 police and gendarmes are already stationed in Mayotte.

Related Topics:Comoros Featured France Mayotte migrants

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Politics

Burkina Faso investigating reports of northern killings

Published

5 hours ago

April 28, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

A government spokesman has revealed that Burkina Faso is looking into reports that 223 people were killed by the Burkinabe army in two villages in the north in February.

The killing was first reported by the Human Rights Watch (HRW), causing a rift between the junta-led West African state and some foreign media that published the report. The HRW report released on Thursday said that the military had executed residents of Nodin and Soro, including at least 56 children, as part of a campaign against civilians suspected of working with jihadist terrorists. The report was based on interviews with witnesses, members of civil society, and other groups.

Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo, a spokesman for the government, said that HRW’s claims were “peremptory” and that the junta was not unwilling to look into the claimed crimes.

“An investigation has been launched into the killings in Nodin and Soro,” Ouedraogo said in a late-evening statement, quoting a statement from a regional prosecutor on March 1.

Since Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger’s militaries took over in a series of coups from 2020 to 2023, violence in the area has gotten worse. This is because of the ten-year fight with Islamist groups related to Al Qaeda and Islamic State.

Attacks on Burkina Faso got much worse in 2023, with more than 8,000 people killed, according to the U.S.-based crisis-monitoring group ACLED.

Politics

S’Africa lengthens troop deployment in Mozambique, Congo DR

Published

3 days ago

April 26, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a speech that South Africa’s military would keep sending troops to Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which are both in the middle of wars.

The extension will leave 1,198 members of the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) in eastern Congo for an unknown amount of time. They are there as part of a United Nations peacekeeping force helping Congo fight rebel groups.

The statement also said that 1,495 members of the SANDF would keep working in Mozambique, where they have been since 2021 helping the government fight dangerous extremism in the north.

After two SANDF troops were killed and three were hurt by a mortar bomb in Congo in February, South Africa’s military operations abroad have been looked at more closely at home this year.

Meanwhile, the major opposition party in South Africa, the Democratic Alliance, said that Ramaphosa sent troops into a war zone without being ready.
Under the supervision of the UN, the SANDF has taken on many dangerous and difficult peacekeeping tasks over the years to help war-torn African countries stay stable and peaceful.

In 2003, South Africa was one of the first countries to send troops to Burundi to help the peace process. During the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) peacekeeping mission in 2000, the SANDF led attempts to stabilize the country’s politics, rebuild and improve infrastructure, and train DRC troops.