CoveragePost
August 28, 2025
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific Correspondent French Pacific desk French Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls has ended an extended seven-day visit to New Caledonia with mixed feelings. On one hand, he said he was confident his “Bougival deal” for New Caledonia’s future is now “more advanced” after three sittings of a “drafting committee” made up ... <a title="French Overseas Minister pushes ahead with Bougival deal despite FLNKS snub" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/08/28/french-overseas-minister-pushes-ahead-with-bougival-deal-despite-flnks-snub/" aria-label="Read more about French Overseas Minister pushes ahead with Bougival deal despite FLNKS snub">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
August 26, 2025
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk French Prime Minister François Bayrou’s surprise announcement yesterday that he will call for a parliamentary confidence vote in his government is set to further complicate protracted talks in New Caledonia on the French territory’s political future. The announcement comes as French Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls ... <a title="French PM’s confidence vote hits New Caledonia’s political negotiations" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/08/26/french-pms-confidence-vote-hits-new-caledonias-political-negotiations/" aria-label="Read more about French PM’s confidence vote hits New Caledonia’s political negotiations">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
August 24, 2025
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A newly established “drafting committee” held its inaugural meeting in Nouméa this week, aiming to translate the Bougival agreement — signed by New Caledonian political parties in Paris last month — into a legal and constitutional form. However, the first sitting of the committee on Thursday ... <a title="FLNKS snubs Nouméa constitutional reform talks for New Caledonia" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/08/24/flnks-snubs-noumea-constitutional-reform-talks-for-new-caledonia/" aria-label="Read more about FLNKS snubs Nouméa constitutional reform talks for New Caledonia">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
August 20, 2025
French Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls is once again in New Caledonia for a four-day visit aimed at maintaining dialogue, despite a strong rejection from a significant part of the pro-independence camp. He touched down at the Nouméa-La Tontouta Airport last night on his fourth trip to New Caledonia since he took office in late ... <a title="French Overseas Minister in New Caledonia in bid to ‘save’ Bougival deal" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/08/20/french-overseas-minister-in-new-caledonia-in-bid-to-save-bougival-deal/" aria-label="Read more about French Overseas Minister in New Caledonia in bid to ‘save’ Bougival deal">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
August 14, 2025
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk New Caledonia’s pro-independence front, the FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front), has formally confirmed its “block rejection” of the French-sponsored Bougival project, signed last month. The pact has been presented as an agreement between all parties to serve as a guide for the French Pacific ... <a title="‘Full sovereignty and independence’: FLNKS rejects France’s Bougival project" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/08/14/full-sovereignty-and-independence-flnks-rejects-frances-bougival-project/" aria-label="Read more about ‘Full sovereignty and independence’: FLNKS rejects France’s Bougival project">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
August 1, 2025
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific presenter/bulletin editor A former New Caledonia Congress president says there are “not enough” benefits for Kanaks in a new “draft” agreement he signed alongside pro and anti-independence stakeholders in France last month. Roch Wamytan said that, after 10 days of deadlock discussions in Paris, he failed to secure the pro-independence ... <a title="Roch Wamytan: Paris political agreement for New Caledonia ‘not enough’ for Kanaks" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/08/01/roch-wamytan-paris-political-agreement-for-new-caledonia-not-enough-for-kanaks/" aria-label="Read more about Roch Wamytan: Paris political agreement for New Caledonia ‘not enough’ for Kanaks">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
August 1, 2025
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific Desk New Caledonia’s oldest pro-independence party, the Union Calédonienne (UC), has officially rejected a political agreement on the Pacific territory’s political future signed in Paris last month. The text, bearing the signatures of all of New Caledonia’s political parties represented in the local Congress — a total ... <a title="New Caledonia’s oldest party for independence rejects ‘Bougival’ deal" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/08/01/new-caledonias-oldest-party-for-independence-rejects-bougival-deal/" aria-label="Read more about New Caledonia’s oldest party for independence rejects ‘Bougival’ deal">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
May 8, 2025
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific Desk After three solid days of talks in retreat mode, New Caledonia’s political parties have yet to reach an agreement on the French Pacific territory’s future status. The talks, held with French Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls and French Prime Minister’s special advisor Eric Thiers, have since ... <a title="New Caledonia’s political talks – no outcome after three days of ‘conclave’" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/05/08/new-caledonias-political-talks-no-outcome-after-three-days-of-conclave/" aria-label="Read more about New Caledonia’s political talks – no outcome after three days of ‘conclave’">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
December 30, 2024
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk New Overseas Minister Manuel Valls, who was appointed yesterday as part of the new French government of Prime Minister François Bayrou, intends to tackle New Caledonia’s numerous issues in the spirit of dialogue of former Socialist Prime Minister Michel Rocard. Rocard is credited as the main ... <a title="Valls hopes to tackle New Caledonia in Rocard-style ‘spirit of dialogue’" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/12/30/valls-hopes-to-tackle-new-caledonia-in-rocard-style-spirit-of-dialogue/" aria-label="Read more about Valls hopes to tackle New Caledonia in Rocard-style ‘spirit of dialogue’">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
December 1, 2024
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk New Caledonia’s largest pro-independence party, the Union Calédonienne (UC), has unveiled the main outcome of its congress last weekend, including its plans for the French Pacific territory’s political future. Speaking at a news conference on Thursday in Nouméa, the party’s newly-elected executive bureau, now headed by ... <a title="Tjibaou’s party unveils plan for New Caledonia’s future ‘independence’" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/12/01/tjibaous-party-unveils-plan-for-new-caledonias-future-independence/" aria-label="Read more about Tjibaou’s party unveils plan for New Caledonia’s future ‘independence’">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
November 26, 2024
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk The election of Emmanuel Tjibaou as the new president of New Caledonia’s main pro-independence party, the Union Calédonienne (UC), has triggered a whole range of political reactions — mostly favourable, some more cautious. Within the pro-independence camp, the two main moderate parties UPM (Progressist Union in ... <a title="Mixed reactions to Tjibaou’s election to key Kanak pro-independence party" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/11/26/mixed-reactions-to-tjibaous-election-to-key-kanak-pro-independence-party/" aria-label="Read more about Mixed reactions to Tjibaou’s election to key Kanak pro-independence party">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
September 20, 2024
By Stefan Armbruster and Harry Pearl of BenarNews French police have shot and killed two men in New Caledonia, stoking tensions with pro-independence groups days ahead of a public holiday marking France’s annexation of the Pacific archipelago. The pro-independence FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front) decried the deaths yesterday as “barbaric and humiliating methods” ... <a title="French police shoot dead two Kanaks in New Caledonian ‘assassinations’" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/09/20/french-police-shoot-dead-two-kanaks-in-new-caledonian-assassinations/" aria-label="Read more about French police shoot dead two Kanaks in New Caledonian ‘assassinations’">Read more</a>
