In a heated exchange with residents of the hurricane-hit island of Mayotte on Thursday night, Emmanuel Macron cursed to a jeering crowd on French soil: “If it weren’t for France, you would be in a worse situation than you are now. Ten thousand times.
On December 14, Hurricane Chito devastated the island of Mayotte, located between Madagascar and Mozambique, destroying critical infrastructure and leveling many of the tin-roofed shacks that made up its large slums. Nearly a week after the worst storm in 90 years, France’s poorest areas are still without water.
Throughout Thursday, the French president was met with angry Mahoys demanding to know why aid had not yet reached them. At one point he told a group of people: “You are glad to be in France. Because if it had not been for France, I tell you, you would be 10,000 times worse off than you are now. Nowhere else in the Indian Ocean has you received so much help. This is fact.
On Thursday night, Macron said he was extending his visit to a second day “as a sign of respect and consideration.” “I decided to sleep here because I thought, given what people are going through, [leaving the same day could have] Installed is the idea that we come, we see, we leave.
The questioning continued Friday. “After seven days, you won’t be able to provide water to the residents,” a man shouted to Macron as he visited the small community of Cingoni on the west coast of Grande Tresa on the main island of Mayotte.
“I understand your impatience. You can count on me,” Macron responded, saying water would be distributed at city hall.
Macron has often been in hot water in the past for off-the-cuff public remarks that he said were intended to “tell it like it is” but came across as insensitive or condescending to many French, leading to a sharp decline in his presidency. For seven years he was very popular.
Back home, opposition politicians slammed the comments. Sébastien Chenu, a member of the far-right National Rally, said: “I don’t think the president has found the right words of comfort for our fellow Mayotte people, who always have a sense of being criticized in this way of expression. The feeling of being treated differently.
Far-left politician Eric Cockrell said Macron’s remarks were “completely undignified”.
The official death toll in Mayotte was 31, but still lower than expected, with officials previously expressing concern that thousands more could die. Immediate burials consistent with Islamic tradition, and the large number of undocumented migrants from nearby Comoros who evade authorities for fear of deportation, may mean the true death toll will never be known.
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The cyclone also killed 73 people in northern Mozambique and 13 in Malawi, according to authorities in the South-Eastern African country.
Mayotte’s official population is 320,000, but authorities say there may be another 100,000 to 200,000 people, mostly from the Comoros, living in the island’s slums. Mayotte became part of France in 1841 and voted to remain in France in 1974, when the Comoros Islands chose independence.
Earlier this week, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, an avowed right-winger against immigration, said Mayotte would not be able to rebuild without addressing immigration.
In the Kaweni slum on the edge of the island capital, Mamuzu, Ali Jimoy said eight people were killed by the hurricane near his home, and two of them were soon buried near a mosque.
He said Mayotte had been “completely abandoned” by the French government. “The water that comes out of the pipes — even if it’s working, you can’t drink it, it comes out dirty.”
Reuters and AFP contributed to this report