Fifty-four French parliamentarians are calling for immediate action to address severe poverty and illegal immigration on Mayotte, ten years after it officially became the 101st department of France, reports RFI.
Mayotte is a group of islands that geographically forms part of the Comoro archipelago, which was colonized by France in 1912 and then declared French autonomous overseas territory in 1946.
But while Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli voted for independence from France in 1974, the islands of Mayotte rejected independence and then did so again in a second referendum two years later.
However, the Comoro islands continue to claim Mayotte and the UN does not officially recognize French sovereignty.
On 31 March 2011, backed by 95.24 of the population in yet another referendum, Mayotte became a fully-fledged French department, with the same rights for its citizens as a Parisian or someone from Bordeaux.
But ten years on from that date, an open letter from the 54 MPs highlights Mayotte’s continued poverty.
The MPs note a high level of illiteracy, and the fact that nearly one in three homes on the small group of islands has no running water. Social security benefits are still not in line with those elsewhere in France and 35 per cent of the eligible working population is unemployed.