Court stops eviction from Mayotte slum

Mamoudzou – A French court halted the controversial clearance of a slum due yesterday aimed at expelling migrants from its Indian Ocean island territory of Mayotte – a plan that has sparked clashes between locals and security forces and sparked tensions with neighbouring Comoros.

The operation aims to expel migrants from urban slums on Mayotte to improve living conditions for locals in France’s poorest department.

Some 1 800 members of the French security forces have been deployed for the operation, including hundreds sent from Paris, with young locals and police clashing in the district of Tsoundzou outside the main town of Mamoudzou since Sunday.

AFP journalists reported clashes outside slums in Mayotte’s main city yesterday. Barricades of tyres and dustbins lined the road and protesters threw stones at police, who fired tear gas.

A court in Mamoudzou yesterday stopped the clearance of one slum located at Koungou near the capital at the last minute, saying the action had no legal foundation and threatened public liberties. The local administration said it would appeal.

Locals feted the court decision stopping the evacuation, which was due early yesterday.

Comoros, whose three islands lie to the northwest of Mayotte, said on Monday it had refused to allow a boat carrying migrants from the island. Most of the illegal migrants being deported are Comoran.

It also said it had suspended passenger traffic at a port where deported migrants usually land.

The plan is for those without papers to be sent back to the Comoran island of Anjouan, 70km away from Mayotte.

“We will not stop the operations... to fight against delinquency and unsanitary housing,” the most senior Paris-appointed official on Mayotte, Thierry Suquet, said. –