Comoros condemns French aid-for-migration conditions

Comoros condemned remarks by French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu that France could make development aid conditional on cooperation to curb irregular migration to Mayotte.

Comorian Foreign Minister Mohamed Mbae told AFP late Thursday that Lecornu's remarks on development aid were “unbearably condescending” and “surprising in several respects”. He said they were out of context with the expectations of people in Mayotte after Cyclone Chido devastated the island in 2024.

Lecornu, speaking Wednesday during a two-day visit to Mayotte, said France would link aid for Comoros and six African countries to their “capacity to take back undocumented migrants” and their role in “the fight against people-smugglers”.

France is targeting Comoros, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania and Kenya, whose nationals have increasingly travelled to Mayotte in search of better economic opportunities.

Mayotte remained French when the rest of the Comoros archipelago gained independence in 1975, but Comoros still claims the island. Comoros says its citizens cannot be treated as foreigners or expelled from territory it considers its own.

Opposition party Ushe accused France of “appalling blackmail”. Civil society group Comite Maore called the policy “unacceptable blackmail” and accused Paris of taking a neo-colonial approach.