France plans to make its development aid to seven African countries conditional on greater cooperation in the fight against illegal immigration to the French island territory of Mayotte, as the issue becomes increasingly politicised ahead of the French presidential election next year.
France is demanding closer cooperation from the Comoros, the independent country that forms part of the same archipelago off the coast of southeast Africa as Mayotte, as well as mainland states Burundi, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Somalia and Kenya.
