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Comoros criticizes suspension of maritime links decided by Madagascar
October 21, 2024
Moroni, Oct 21, 2024 (AFP) – The Comoros government said Monday it “did not know on what basis” Madagascar had suspended maritime transport with the neighboring archipelago in the Indian Ocean, denouncing an “alleged cholera epidemic.”
"The World Health Organization has not yet issued any alert to this effect. We do not know on what basis Madagascar took this decision," declared Comorian Foreign Minister Mbae Mohamed on Monday during a press briefing in Moroni, the capital.
Antananarivo has decided to suspend maritime transport between the two countries, considering that the cholera epidemic that has affected East Africa and the Horn of Africa is "on the rise again in the Comoros" according to the minutes of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday.
"Maritime transport from the Comoros will be suspended until the epidemic is brought under control," it said.
In September, 91 cases were recorded in the Comoros by the World Health Organization (WHO) among the more than 10,000 counted since the start of the epidemic in February.
The Comorian government, in a press release issued on Monday, "finally calls on the authorities of Madagascar to reconsider their position and give dialogue a chance."
"It's not going to stop there. We will most likely recall our ambassador from Madagascar," a diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Comoros-Malagasy relations have been eroded since the discovery in December 2021 of gold bullion trafficking between the two countries, which led to the suspension of flights between the two countries since July 2022.
"The Malagasy authorities want them returned to them. For the moment the Union of the Comoros is turning a deaf ear," explains a Comorian diplomat.
The Malagasy community is by far the largest of all the foreign communities present in the archipelago, with around 20,000 nationals residing in the Comoros, according to a source within the Ministry of the Interior.
Following the closure of the borders, a Comorian ship, the Acadie, carrying 283 passengers, was refused docking in the Malagasy town of Majunga and returned to its home port on Sunday.
"I wanted to go to Madagascar for a medical check-up, I had already made an appointment with my doctor, I am distraught," Anfane Athoumani, a 39-year-old employee of the Anjouan governorate, told AFP.
https://marine-oceans.com/actualite...es-liaisons-maritimes-decidee-par-madagascar/