On March 29th, 2009, France intends to hold a referendum in Maoré (French: Mayotte) on the integration of this overseas community as a department, which would give it the status of an outermost region of the European Union. At the summit of Addis Ababa of January, 2009, the 53 countries of the African Union were unanimous in once again condemning this referendum, as well as the inscription of Mayotte in the French constitution. Except for France, the countries of the EU voted for almost every one of the twenty UN resolutions recognizing Mayotte as the Comoros, firmly condemning France since 1975.

We ask the authorities of the European Union, the governments and the elected representatives of the member countries to insist that the French government respect international law and UN resolutions, by:

– cancelling the illegal referendum of March 29th, 2009

– abolishing the 1995 Balladur visa [1], and

– by engaging in real negotiations, under the arbitration of international authorities,  for the reintegration of Maoré into the Union of Comoros.

Petition initiated by the association Survie

[1]  The inhabitants of the other three Comoros islands need a visa, in order to enter Mayotte, which was introduced by the government of Prime minister Édouard Balladur and his Interior minister Charles Pasqua. It is however very rarely issued and therefore at the origin of the life-threatening passages on the «kwassa kwassa», the fishing boats.