Seychelles’ New President Promises to Halt Qatari Resort, to a Divided Island Nation
Patrick Herminie, Seychelles’ president-elect, says one of his first acts in office will be to stop construction of a controversial Qatari-funded luxury resort on Assumption Island. This project is seemed to have caused some rifts by dividing families, stir political debate and raise an alarmed environmental concern.
Herminie, who will be sworn in on October 26, told the BBC in interview that the current Qatari-funded luxury resort deal gave Seychelles peanuts in return for leasing one of its most fragile islands. “What has been built has been built and that is it,” he declared, promising to freeze further construction and renegotiate with investors.
The development, which is a 40-villa resort backed by Qatar’s Assets Group, has been under fire for threatening the delicate ecosystem near the Aldabra atoll, home to hundreds of rare species found nowhere else on Earth. Critics say the project risks turning a national treasure into a private enclave for the wealthy.
The issue became a defining moment in last month’s election, symbolizing the tension between foreign investment and national identity in the tiny Indian Ocean nation. Herminie defeated incumbent Wavel Ramkalawan with 52.7% of the vote after vowing to protect Seychelles’ environment and put Seychellois first.
But Herminie’s challenges go beyond conservation. Seychelles is battling one of the world’s highest per-capita rates of drug addiction. This crisis, is what the incoming president calls “an existential threat”. He has pledged a twin approach: cutting demand for narcotics and cracking down on traffickers.
In the view of Seychellois, the election was transcended a resort or an island. It was about reclaiming a sense of ownership of land, community and their future, in a paradise that has long sort to balance her beauty with development economic leverages.
