Former Colony Votes to Become French

Interesting.

MAMOUDZOU, Mayotte (AFP) — The Indian Ocean island of Mayotte voted Sunday to become a full part of France in a referendum that will end local traditions like polygamy and curb powers of Islamic courts.

More than 95 percent of those who voted supported Mayotte becoming France's 101st department, the French government announced. Mayotte is currently an overseas "collectivity" with specific autonomy powers.

The vote means that by 2011 the Muslim-majority island will complete an integration with France begun in 1974, when Mayotte split from three other islands in its archipelago which chose independence and became the Comoros.

The African Union and the Comoros administration -- which sees Mayotte as a territory "occupied" by France -- have denounced the referendum.

So the voters among the 200,000 population decided, overwhelmingly mind you, that they would rather be French than live in an Islamic republic. Heh.