Mayors on the French overseas territory of Mayotte have suspended their involvement in distributing food and water following reports by Le Monde daily that it was being diverted. They had taken charge of distributing much-needed state aid in the wake of the devastating Cyclone Chido.
The Mayotte Mayors' Association announced Monday that town officials had decided to "withdraw any involvement in distribution" as of 17 February.
Their decision follows an investigation by Le Monde, published 14 February, which included numerous testimonies from residents questioning where crucial food and water supplies ended up.
Some undocumented individuals reported experiencing discrimination, while anonymous accounts accused elected officials of “sharing the food supplies among themselves".
The Indian Ocean archipelago was devastated by the passage of Cyclone Chido on 14 December.
According to Mayotte's prefect, François-Xavier Bieuville, French authorities have either shipped or flown over close to 300 tonnes of supplies (rice, tinned food, oil, flower, powdered milk) over the last seven weeks. More than 100,000 litres of water arrive in Mayotte each day.
The supplies are handed over to the different municipalities to be "distributed in places where they're most needed".
Cyclone-hit Mayotte struggles to recover amid food and water shortages
Le Monde highlighted that Bieuville and the Minister for Overseas Territories, Manuel Valls, were "questioning" what was going on.
"On site, we were surprised to see some of the food aid or distribution of bottles of water wasn't being delivered," Valls told FranceInfo on Monday.
Mayotte's population of around 320,000 is majority Muslim. With Ramadan set to begin at the end of the month, Paris has decided to alter the distribution system, entrusting food supplies to mosques and charitable organisations rather than local councils.
The archipelago's mayors are angry at having the finger pointed at them and claim they were informed of the decision to change the distribution method via the press, "without any consultation with local authorities".
An investigation into the handling of food aid has been launched by the Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control, Le Monde reported.
