Macron met with anger over Cyclone Chido response during visit to Mayotte
French President Emmanuel Macron faced widespread frustration and anger from residents in Mayotte during his visit to the Indian Ocean archipelago, which is still reeling from the damage of the strongest cyclone to hit the region in nearly a century.
Mr Macron on Friday morning visited a neighbourhood in Tsingoni on Mayotte’s main island, where people remain without access to drinking water or phone service nearly a week after the cyclone.
As he walked through the area, some shouted: “We want water, we want water.”
Tension was palpable on Thursday evening when Mr Macron was met with boos from dozens of residents in Pamandzi on Petite-Terre island during the last stop of his first day in Mayotte.
As people expressed frustration at the slow pace of aid efforts, Mr Macron grabbed a microphone and said: “I have nothing to do with the cyclone, you can blame me, it wasn’t me!”
Addressing the crowd, he acknowledged the hardship.
“You’ve been through something terrible, everyone’s struggling, regardless of skin colour,” he said, urging unity.
Mr Macron got angry in turn, shouting, “You’re happy to be in France… If it wasn’t France, you’d be 10,000 times more screwed!”
The French president added: “There’s no place in the Indian Ocean where people get so much help!”
A woman could be heard saying “we disagree”.
Mr Macron, who is known for his appetite for debate, explained that he stayed two days in Mayotte out of “respect and consideration” for the population.
Mayotte, with 320,000 residents and an estimated 100,000 additional migrants, is France’s poorest department.
The cyclone devastated entire neighbourhoods as many people ignored warnings, thinking the storm would not be so extreme.
In Tsingoni, the French president got a warmer welcome on Friday morning as people posed for selfies with him and some showed him their children.
Meanwhile, French military and local authorities were scrambling to repair busted water pipes across the islands and get water to villages.
In the village of Mirereni, about 35 kilometres (22 miles) outside Mayotte’s capital in the north, Civil Security officers were trying to remove a large, felled mango tree that busted a water pipe.
The pipe provides water to around 10,000 people in three nearby villages.
But officials say repairing it might take a bit longer than usual because of the heat, which impacts equipment.
Locals said they are worried the lack of water would cause disease.
Earlier this year, there was a cholera outbreak on the island, with at least 200 cases.
At least 35 people have died during the cyclone and about 2,500 people were injured, including 67 in a serious condition, French authorities said.
But it is feared hundreds or even thousands of people have died.