Talk:Mayotte

Foreign Legion garrison

France keeps a detachment of LEF on Mayotte: http://www.defense.gouv.fr/sites/terre/decouverte/presentation_de_l_armee_de_terre/armes_et_composantes/legion_etrangere/detachement_de_legion_etrangere_de_mayotte

Wiki has this: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A9tachement_de_L%C3%A9gion_%C3%A9trang%C3%A8re_de_Mayotte

Question of illegal aliens ?

My mastering of English (and of the subject) is not good enough for me to write about the subject but I think that illegal immigration and the particularly high number/proportion of illegal aliens should be mentioned in the "demographics" section, in the french wikipedia page on the subject mentioned below, the proportion is 30 to 40% illegal aliens in Mayotte. I can't remember the exact number but it seems to me that a large portion of the island population are Comorian aliens and the local (and national) authorities have a hard time dealing with this problem as illegal aliens are pouring everyday on Mayotte's beaches by little boats frome the nearby Comoros island. The french wikipedia page "Démographie de Mayotte" says :

Il est difficile d'estimer la part de l'immigration clandestine dans la population mahoraise. Elle n'est pas un phénomène récent. Déjà en 1978, suite aux dramatiques troubles internes au nouvel État comorien, Mayotte, restée française, avait accueilli en quelques années plus de 8 000 réfugiés. On avance parfois aujourd'hui les chiffres de 30 à 40 %. La majorité des immigrants viendraient d'Anjouan et plus récemment de Grande Comore. La maternité de Mamoudzou est la plus grosse maternité de France avec 7 000 naissances annuelles. 65 à 75 % de ces naissances seraient en fait issues de l'immigration clandestine.

Malgré les 8 500 reconduites à la frontière effectuées en 2004, on note de par cette arrivée massive de clandestins, un développement anarchique de l'habitat spontané sur des terrains squattés, comme le quartier de Kawéni, un des plus vastes bidonvilles de France5.

À la suite de la reconquête d'Anjouan par les autorités comoriennes (évacuation du colonel Mohamed Bacar par la France le 27 mars 2008), le conseil général de Mayotte estime que l'afflux de réfugiés atteint 400 nouveaux clandestins par jour, soit 12 000 pendant le mois d'avril. Mayotte serait donc un territoire français où le nombre de clandestins serait supérieur à l'effectif des immigrants en situation régulière6.

There's also a very high proportion (70% of women in Mayotte's obstetric departments are non-french) of comorian women coming in Mayotte to give birth in order to benefit from "jus soli" :

En novembre 2005, lors de son audition par la commission d'enquête parlementaire, François Baroin relève que le nombre des naissances à Mayotte a augmenté de 50 % en dix ans et de 10 % sur la seule année 2004. L'hôpital de Mamoudzou est ainsi devenu la première maternité de France. Ce surcroît de natalité n'est pas imputable aux autochtones. Selon Baroin, « près de 70 % » des mères des nourrissons sont « des Comoriennes en situation irrégulière ». Pour 2004, au bambin près, 5 249 sur 7 676.

http://www.lepoint.fr/actualites-politique/les-clandestins-de-l-outre-mer/917/0/10399

It's just my opinion that this subject should be mentioned.

A few links on the subject (in French) : http://www.malango-mayotte.fr/immigration_clandestine/

http://mayotte.exprimanoo.com/articles/mayotte-et-comoresles-clandestins-de-nouveau-reconduits-aux-frontieres-1189.htm

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.127.52.67 (talk • contribs) 18:04, 8 August 2011‎ (UTC)

Prosperity: contradiction

The Lead claims Mayotte is prosperous yet the text describes high levels of extreme poverty Billsmith60 (talk) 15:43, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

By French standards, Mayotte is a poor department, but by African standards, Mayotte is very rich and a destination for a better life. There is no contradiction. What is perceived as poor by France is perceived as rich by Africans because of the enormous difference in development. Monsieur Fou (talk) 15:34, 4 June 2025 (UTC)

I agree with Monsiuer Fou - the lead specifically reads:

"Despite being France's poorest department, Mayotte is much richer than other neighboring countries"

and also

"over 83% of the population live under the poverty line according to French standards, compared to 16% in metropolitan France".

I believe the this is clear wording and nuanced enough Tonuka (talk) 07:47, 15 June 2026 (UTC)

De jure part of Comoros

The international community recognizes this as a part of Comoros. The UN, African Union and many other international organizations supported Comoros territorial integrity.

Shouldn't we indicate it ? As opposed to treating the jurisdiction of the occupying power as completely legitimate, without acknowledging that it's even disputed?

Especially when the same treatment isn't given to other disputed territories, especially with pro-Western cases. Like the fact that cities in Crimea are said to be situated "in Ukraine", even though they're not controlled by Ukraine, and their sovereignty is disputed and local people don't see it as Ukrainian. Let's not forget how blatantly one-sided many articles on South Ossetia also are.

But here, when it's a Western power violating international law, their side of the territorial dispute is taken as objective fact and isn't even mentioned. ~2026-38454-57 (talk) 13:28, 5 July 2026 (UTC)

The article does cover the UN's position. Largoplazo (talk) 13:48, 5 July 2026 (UTC)

Only very slightly compared to other disputed territories. If it was treated like Crimea or Abkhazia, we would see on every infobox and starting text that "it's situated in Mayotte, internationally recognized as part of Comoros but controlled by France" and "Mamoudzou, de-facto in France, de-jure in Comoros".

Here, it's almost used as an afterthought, and not taken seriously as other violations of international law. The controlling (occupying) power's position is used as the norm when discussing where Mayotte is situated in, with the dispute only being written in a small section.

(P.S. I use a browser that changes my IP automatically if my IP somehow changes)

~2026-38462-13 (talk) 14:13, 5 July 2026 (UTC)

Flag

Why isn’t the flag of Mayotte in the infobox? Loc863 (talk) 00:24, 13 August 2026 (UTC)

Because, as far as anyone here has been able to determine, Mayotte doesn't have an official flag. Largoplazo (talk) 01:12, 13 August 2026 (UTC)

What if someone were to have added it? Loc863 (talk) 10:21, 13 August 2026 (UTC)

Added the flag that doesn't exist? Largoplazo (talk) 11:21, 13 August 2026 (UTC)

I swear, there is an emoji of the flag Loc863 (talk) 19:44, 13 August 2026 (UTC)

Even if so, that doesn't mean it's official. The Unicode Consortium doesn't decide these things. There's also a poo emoji, they make emoji for all kinds of things people ask for. Largoplazo (talk) 20:57, 13 August 2026 (UTC)