French President Emmanuel Macron has backed down from a demand that protesters in New Caledonia dismantle all their barricades before he would lift a state of emergency on the island.
The president’s office said in a statement that it will not be extended “for the moment” and therefore end on May 27 at 8 p.m. in Paris, which is 5 a.m. on May 28 in Noméa.
That is the second concession he has made in an attempt to quell ongoing violence which has now claimed seven lives.
During his visit late last week, he promised to hit pause on contentious voting reforms, which had led to almost two weeks of unrest.
“I have pledged that this reform will not pass today in the current context. We will allow some weeks to allow a calming of tensions and resumption of dialogue to find a broad accord,” he said, adding that he would review the situation in a month.
Despite his efforts, however, New Caledonia seems no closer to a peaceful resolution of the conflict that has seen widespread violence, property damage, arson, and looting.
Within hours of his departure, police had shot and killed a 48-year-old local after two officers were attacked by a group of around 15 people, bringing to seven the total number of fatalities in 12 days of rioting.
Earlier in the day, authorities had said the situation was “relatively calm.”
The president arrived on the evening of May 23 and departed the following day, having flown about 17,000 kilometres (10,500 miles) from France to Noumea for a visit that lasted around 18 hours.
He was accompanied by Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu, and Overseas Minister Marie Guévenoux.
After holding talks with pro- and anti-independence leaders, he promised he would not force through the voting reform, which had already passed the National Assembly and was merely awaiting the mostly ceremonial assent of both Houses.
Instead, Mr. Macron said, local leaders should negotiate to find an alternative agreement for the future and described the violence as an “unprecedented insurrection movement” that no one saw coming.
Currently, voting in the territory is restricted to indigenous Kanaks and those who arrived from France before 1998.
The planned reform would see more non-indigenous residents—including any who have been in New Caledonia for at least 10 years—become able to vote.
Referenda Against Independence
New Caledonia has held several referendums on the issue. The first two resulted in slim majorities in favour of remaining part of France.The third was boycotted by pro-independence parties after the authorities refused to postpone the vote despite the pandemic.
Despite putting the reforms on indefinite hold, the president insisted that the result of the last independence referendum could not be called into question.
While portraying the pause in legislating as a major concession by France, the president’s language made it clear that independence for the territory is not on the table, meaning unrest is likely to continue.
“The return of republican order is the priority,” he said pointedly.
That puts him at odds with Kanak leaders like Christian Tein, who heads the pro-independence party The Field Action Coordination Unit. He called on supporters to “remain mobilised” across the archipelago, and for “resistance” to the reforms.
“Our main objective is for our country to obtain full sovereignty,” he said.
Mr. Tein made the comments in a video posted on social media after he and other pro-independence leaders had met with Mr. Macron.
Barricades Will Remain: Tein
In the video message, Mr. Tein called on protesters to “slightly loosen the grip” on the barricades in and around the capital, Noumea, and on the island’s main roads so that fuel, food, and medicine could be transported.However, he insisted they would remain in place until French authorities lifted house arrest warrants for several of his party members and the French government entirely scrapped the reforms.
Police removed around 100 roadblocks from the airport to the capital so Mr. Macron’s convoy could make the journey, but the airport still remains closed to commercial flights.
“Violence should never be allowed to take root,” Mr. Macron said during a televised interview with local journalists at the end of his visit Friday.
“What I want is a message of order and a return to calm, as this is not the Wild West,” he said. “A path must be opened for the calming of tensions and this will allow us to build what happens next.”
But Jimmy Naouna, spokesperson for pro-independence group Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), said the presence of French security forces was inflaming the situation.
“You can’t keep sending in troops just to quell the protests, because that is just going to lead to more protests,” he said, adding that the current conflict was a “political situation, so there needs to be a political solution.”
Meanwhile, it was revealed that French tourists have hitched rides aboard military aircraft headed for Australia and New Zealand, with the first tranche leaving on May 25. They will then take commercial flights to mainland France.“I regret that some of the Caledonian pro-independence leaders have made a deal with Azerbaijan,” Mr. Darmanin claimed.
