French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Madagascar for a regional summit has brought fresh attention to a long-running dispute over the Îles Éparses – a group of tiny islands in the Mozambique Channel claimed by both France and Madagascar. Despite years of talks, the issue remains unresolved – part of the unfinished business of decolonisation.
France controls the second-largest maritime area in the world, spread over 10 million square kilometres. About 27 percent of this is in the Indian Ocean.
