UN General Assembly
2008

to inform this Assembly of the great concern of the people and the Government of the Comoros with regard to the issue of the Comorian island of Mayotte. I would like to note that, following talks undertaken with France on that issue since last September following my meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy, I did not intend to raise the issue at this session. The high-level working group that was set up for that purpose on the initiative of the French President provides, I believe, an ideal bilateral framework to study all aspects of the issue. However, the intention recently declared by the French authorities to organize a referendum in 2009 with a view to transforming Mayotte into a French department forces me to raise the issue here. It will be agreed that such a decision, coming at a moment when discussions are under way between the two parties, will not favour an open and constructive dialogue. Therefore, in order to throw further light on the justification of the Comorian claim to the island of