Operation Wuambushu

Operation Wuambushu ("recovery" in Shimaore) is an ongoing French military-police operation in Mayotte, aimed at expelling illegal immigrants, destroying slums, and fighting crime on the islands.
The operation was revealed on February 22, 2023, by the satirical weekly Le Canard enchaîné, and its launch was confirmed by the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin on April 20, 2023, during an interview with Le Figaro.
Background
French Government's stance towards unauthorized immigration in Mayotte
For several years the French government has been occupied with the migratory situation in Mayotte. Since 2019, it has increased its means of opposing unauthorized immigration on the island, in particular through the continuous sea presence of interceptor boats and through aerial surveillance. Already in 2021, the French treatment of the situation in Mayotte has been accused with multiple violations of human rights.
Visiting Mayotte in December 2022, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin once again expressed his desire to strengthen the fight.
Objectives
Approved in February by the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron and orchestrated by Gérald Darmanin, Minister of the Interior and Overseas Territories, this large-scale operation aims to dislodge a majority of irregular migrants from neighboring Comoros, and to demolish many sheet metal huts exposed to natural hazards.
Prelude
As part of the operation, 119 police reinforcements were deployed on the island, among them 71 police officers from mainland France, 3 police officers from Réunion and 45 CRS. Since April 17, 2023, 164 CRS have already arrived in the territory.
Assessment and criticism
In favor
Several Mayotte collectives aimed at expelling migrants from the island support the Wuambushu operation, in particular the Collective of citizens of Mayotte law 1901, the Collective of citizens of Mayotte movement 2018, the Réma collective, the Women Leaders and the Codim. The latter wrote to the Minister of the Interior asking for the continuation of the operation.
At the political level, the operation is supported by the two deputies from Mayotte Estelle Youssouffa and Mansour Kamardine.
Against
In a forum, 170 health personnel on the island recalled "the dramatic consequences" of previous large-scale interventions in the fight against immigration, referring in particular to the "generation of situations at risk of epidemic infection", the "limitation of access to care" or even "delays in treatment" for certain pathologies that they would have caused.
On April 5, Comorian civil society organizations held a press conference to warn of a "massacre to come".
The president of the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (CNCDH), Jean-Marie Burguburu, wrote to Gérald Darmanin, urging him to "give up" on this project, considering the risk of "worsening fractures and tensions in an already very fragile context [...] and the violation of respect for the fundamental rights of foreigners in the context of mass expulsions".
The association supporting exiles in France, Utopia 56, spoke of a "raid of an unprecedented scale in order to saturate justice and thus circumvent the rule of law to deport with a vengeance [...], the beginnings of 'a filthy communication operation'.
The President of the Comoros, Azali Assoumani asked the French government to abandon the operation.
UNICEF was concerned "about the impact that this large-scale operation is likely to have on the realization of the rights of the most vulnerable children present on the territory, in particular foreign minors and minors in conflict with the law".
References
2023 in international relations
2023 in Mayotte
2023 in the Comoros
2023 in Overseas France
2023 military operations
April 2023 events in Africa
April 2023 events in France
May 2023 events in Africa
May 2023 events in France
Wuambushu
Wuambushu
Illegal immigration to France
Deportation
Comoros–France relations