Since late April, several hundred additional officers have been deployed to the archipelago to crack down on illegal immigration.
The gendarme of the Mayotte naval brigade bluntly presses the throttle of the M’Djabbar boat. The two 300 hp outboard engines roar and propel the boat up to 40 knots or almost 75 km/h. The hull bangs on the waves of the Indian Ocean. The four gendarmes have just been alerted by the command post to an echo on their radar in front of the 101st French department.
“You’ll have it at 1 p.m.!” shouts one of the gendarmes, opening his arm slightly to the right. A small white dot glows on the horizon, almost invisible to the uninitiated eye. One of the officers picks up a launcher with defense balls in case of a difficult interception. All also have their handguns on their belts. Gradually, the blackhead increases in size and the tension subsides. False alarm. It is not a kwassa-kassa, the boat popular with Comorian smugglers to transport migrants from Anjouan Island – the closest island to Mayotte – but a small motorized fishing boat. After the papers of the two fishermen have been checked, the soldiers start looking again for other suspicious boats.
Four gendarmes of the Mayotte nautical brigade, June 21, 2023. (ROBIN PRUDENT / FRANCEINFO)
Since the start of Operation Wuambushu, the gendarmes have been visible throughout Mayotte. Around 370 additional soldiers were sent to the island as reinforcements at the end of April, according to the Interior Ministry. These four mobilized squadrons bring the number of land, sea and air gendarmes in the archipelago to a thousand. The objective set by Gérald Darmanin is to fight crime, unhygienic housing and illegal immigration in the department. On Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th June, the resident of Place Beauvau will also visit a local stage destination.
In 2022, more than half a thousand boats were intercepted
A few days earlier, on Wednesday June 21, as the sun rose over Petite-Terre, four gendarmes began their duties on the M’Djabbar, the oldest interceptor in her fleet (11 years of service). From 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., they roam the territorial waters in search of boats that can transport illegal immigrants. “Last night, three Kwassa-Kassa were intercepted by our Border Police colleagues,” said Chief Warrant Officer Defer, wearing aviator shades and a shaved head.
For the thirty gendarmes who make up the Mayotte naval brigade, the priority is the fight against illegal immigration, which mainly comes from the neighboring Comoros. According to the prefecture, in 2022, of the 772 kwassa kassas discovered, 571 were intercepted by authorities.
But how many fall through the cracks of the French authorities? There is no official number. According to calculations by Mayotte La 1ère, the interceptions would account for only a third of the number of boats that wanted to dock in the French department. At the same time, thousands of undocumented migrants are being sent back the opposite way. According to the prefecture, more than 26,000 people were displaced from Mayotte in 2022, mainly to the Comoros.
“Is the fishing good?”
With every alarm from the command post, the crew embarks on a surveillance at sea. However, the radar devices scattered across the island do not allow precise knowledge of the condition of the boats. Only fishing boats are checked this morning. “You have to get closer to shore!” says a police officer to two fishermen in a wooden canoe. “The waves can be big here and the boats are often very rustic,” explains the man in blue.
Two fishermen were checked by the Mayotte nautical gendarmerie brigade on June 21, 2023. (ROBIN PRUDENT / FRANCEINFO)
In the Banc d’Iris, north of Mayotte, other fishermen were sometimes at sea for several days. “Is the fishing good?” a gendarme asks one of them. The answer lies in a few small fish hidden in a cooler. The man hardly speaks French. Luckily, one of the gendarmes on the team knows the basics of the Mahoran and Comorian languages. “We don’t always have someone who speaks their language, which is sometimes complicated,” admits the commander-in-chief.
In the distance, the island of Anjouan takes shape. A new call from the command post urges the crew to another fishing boat. “Sometimes the radar also detects whales,” smiles a police officer. Luckily, mid-air reinforcements allow for more precise control of the boats. The sea brigade also wants drones to avoid unnecessary interventions.
“Sometimes there are stones”
Since the beginning of Operation Wuambushu, the number of crossings seems to have decreased slightly. But it’s difficult to get an accurate idea of it, because the season isn’t the best for smugglers. “At the moment there are trade winds, it’s a headwind coming from the Comoros,” explains the boatman. “It’s impossible to predict in advance whether there will be boats or not, it varies a lot,” comments the supreme commander, whose last arrest was more than a month ago. One of his colleagues on board intercepted a kwassa kwassa just a few days ago.
Everyone remembers frantic arrests in the middle of the sea. The commander-in-chief remembers a boat in which 43 people were crammed together. “Once I also had a zebu and goats,” recalls one of the officers. “Sometimes there are rocks as you approach,” commented another. Over the years, smugglers have also become more professional. “They can arrive from any side of the island,” explains the Supreme Commander. Sometimes they wait in groups before dispersing so we can’t intercept all the boats.” A photo by the gendarmerie shows eleven cash registers near French waters in 2021.
Just before 2 p.m., the team returned to its base in Petite-Terre. There were no arrests that day. Another group is to work with the border police to ensure a 24-hour presence at sea. However, two months after the arrival of the first reinforcements, some have already left and an additional rotation had to be abandoned. In a few months, the “high season” of migrant crossings is likely to start again.