Former French colony Mayotte bucks the trend

The recent trend in world governance has been for small regions - like Kosovo, East Timor, even South Ossetia - to strive for independence. Then there's the small island of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, which on Sunday voted overwhelmingly to become the 101st ‘Department’ (a political division roughly like a county in the United States) of France.

Of course things are never that simple in international relations. Mayotte is one of four islands in the Comoros island chain. In 1975 the Comoros declared their independence from France, all of the islands that is except for Mayotte. Since then the country of Comoros and the African Union (culturally Comoros has close ties to Africa) have viewed Mayotte as part of their territory “occupied” by France. Both groups have condemned Sunday’s referendum.

But it’s hard to argue against the results of the referendum. Roughly 95% of those who voted on Mayotte supported the decision to become a French Department, the only group opposed were Muslim clerics on the island who fear a loss of influence over Mayotte's society as it becomes closer to France - for example, polygamy will become illegal and Islamic courts operating on the island will lose most of their influence.

It is interesting though that in a time when ethnic groups in territories around the world are pushing for independence that the citizens of Mayotte would feel the best move for their future is to become part of a larger country.