French Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls’ first two days in New Caledonia have been marred by several clashes with local pro-France, anti-independence movements, who feared he would side with their pro-independence opponents.

However, he remained confident that all stakeholders would eventually come and sit together at the table for negotiations.

Valls arrived in the French Pacific territory on Saturday with a necessary resumption of crucial political talks regarding New Caledonia’s political future high on his agenda, nine months after the deadly May 2024 civil unrest.

His visit comes as tensions have risen in the past few days against a backdrop of verbal escalations and rhetoric, the pro-France camp opposing independence stressing that three referendums had resulted in three rejections of independence in 2018, 2020, and 2021.

But the third referendum in December 2021 was boycotted by a large part of the pro-independence, mainly Kanak community, and they have since disputed the validity of its result (even though it was deemed valid in court rulings).

On Saturday, the first day of his visit to the Greater Nouméa city of Mont-Dore, during a ceremony paying homage to a French gendarme who was killed at the height of the riots last year, Valls and one of the main pro-France leaders, French MP Nicolas Metzdorf, had a heated and public argument.

‘First Nation’ controversy
Metzdorf, who was flanked by Sonia Backès, another major pro-France local leader, said Valls had “insulted” the pro-France camp because he had mentioned the indigenous Kanak people as being the “first people” in New Caledonia — equivalent to the notion of “First Nation” people.

Hours before, Valls had just met New Caledonia’s Custom Senate (a traditional gathering of Kanak chiefs) and told them that “nothing can happen in New Caledonia without a profound respect towards [for] the Melanesian people, the Kanak people, and the first people”.

Metzdorf told Valls in an exchange that was filmed on the road and later aired on public broadcaster NC la 1ère: “When you say there are first people, you don’t respect us! Your statements are insulting.”

“If there are first peoples, it means there are second peoples and that some are more important than others.”

To which Valls replied: “When you are toying with these kinds of concepts, you are making a mistake.”

🗣 Manuel Valls en Nouvelle-Calédonie : échange tendu entre le ministre des Outre-mer et des personnalités non-indépendantistes

👉 Nicolas Metzdorf et Sonia Backès lui reprochent certaines prises de position depuis la reprise des discussions

📱💻 https://t.co/f5YyK6KDUf pic.twitter.com/GKa938egkR

— La1ère.fr (@la1ere) February 22, 2025

Every word counts
The 1998 Nouméa Accord’s preamble is largely devoted to the recognition of New Caledonia’s indigenous community (autochtone/indigenous).

On several occasions, Valls faced large groups of pro-France supporters with French tricolour flags and banners (some in the Spanish language, a reference to Valls’s Spanish double heritage), asking him to “respect their democratic (referendum) choice”.

Some were also chanting slogans in Spanish (“No pasaran”), or with a Spanish accent.

“I’m asking for just one thing: for respect towards citizens and those representing the government,” an irate Valls told the crowd.

Questions have since been raised from local organisations and members of the general public as to why and how an estimated 500 pro-France supporters had been allowed to gather while the French High Commissioner still maintains a ban on all public gatherings and demonstrations in Nouméa and its greater area.

“We voted three times no. No means no,” some supporters told the visiting minister, asking him not to “let them down”.

“You shouldn’t believe what you’ve been told. Why wouldn’t you remain French?”, Valls told protesters.

“I think the minister must state very clearly that he respects those three referendums and then we’ll find a solution on that basis,” said Backès.

However, both Metzdorf and Backès reaffirmed that they would take part in “negotiations” scheduled to take place this week.

“We are ready to make compromises”, said Backès.

Valls carried on schedule
Minister Valls travelled to Northern parts and outer islands of New Caledonia to pay homage to the victims during previous insurrections in New Caledonia, including French gendarmes and Kanak militants who died on Ouvéa Island (Loyalty group) in the cave massacre in 1988.

During those trips, he also repeatedly advocated for rebuilding New Caledonia and for every stakeholder to “reconcile memories” and sit at the negotiation table “without hatred”.

Valls believes ‘everyone will be at the table’
In an interview with local public broadcaster NC la 1ère yesterday, the French minister said he was confident “everyone will be at the table”.

The first plenary meeting is to be held this afternoon.

It will be devoted to agreeing on a “method”.

“I believe everyone will be there,” he said.

“All groups, political, economic, social, all New Caledonians, I’m convinced, are a majority who wish to keep a strong link within France,” he said.

He also reiterated that following New Caledonia’s Matignon (1988) and Nouméa (1998) peace accords, the French Pacific territory’s envisaged future was to follow a path to “full sovereignty”.

“The Nouméa Accord is the foundation. Undeniably, there have been three referendums. And then there was May 13.

“There is a before and and after [the riots]. My responsibility is to find a way. We have the opportunity of these negotiations, let’s be careful of the words we use,” he said, asking every stakeholder for “restraint”.

“I’ve also seen some pro-independence leaders say that [their] people’s sacrifice and death were necessary to access independence. And this, also, is not on.”

Valls also said the highly sensitive issue of “unfreezing” New Caledonia’s special voters’ roll for local elections (a reform attempt that triggered the May 2024 riots) was “possible”, but it will be part of a wider, comprehensive agreement on the French Pacific entity’s political future.

A mix of ‘fear and hatred’
Apart from the planned political negotiations, Valls also intends to devote significant time to New Caledonia’s dire economic situation, in post-riot circumstances that have not only caused 14 dead, but also several hundred job losses and total damage estimated at some 2.2 billion euros (NZ$4 billion).

A first, much-expected economic announcement also came yesterday: Valls said the State-funded unemployment benefits (which were supposed to cease in the coming days) woud now be extended until June 30.

For the hundreds of businesses which were destroyed last year, he said a return to confidence was essential and a prerequisite to any political deal . . .  And vice-versa.

“If there’s no political agreement, there won’t be any economic investment.

“This may cause the return of fresh unrest, a form of civil war. I have heard those words coming back, just like I’ve heard the words racism, hatred . . . I can feel hope and at the same time a fear of violence.

“I feel all the ferments of a confrontation,” he said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

French Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls has announced he will travel to New Caledonia later this month to pursue talks on the French territory’s political future.

These discussions on February 22 follow preliminary talks held last week in Paris in “bilateral” mode with a wide range of political stakeholders.

The talks, which included pro-independence and pro-France parties, were said to have “allowed to restore a climate of trust between France and New Caledonia’s politicians”.

Those meetings contributed to “a better understanding” of “everyone’s expectations” and “clarify everyone’s respective projects”, Valls said.

Between February 4 and 9, Valls said he had met “at least twice” with delegations from all six parties and movements represented in New Caledonia’s Congress.

The main goal was to resume the political process and allow everyone to “project themselves into the future” after the May 2024 riots.

The riots caused 14 dead, hundreds of injured, arson and looting of hundreds of businesses and an estimated damage of some 2.2 billion euros (NZ$4 billion).

‘Touched all topics’
“We have touched on all topics, extensively and without any taboo, including the events related to the riots that broke out in New Caledonia in May 2024.”

Valls said in this post-riot situation, “everyone bears their own responsibilities, but the French State may also have a part of responsibility for what happened a few months ago”.

High on the agenda of the conference were crucial subjects, such as France’s assistance package, the need to reform and reduce costs in New Caledonia (including in the public service workforce) — as well as key sectors such as the health, tourism sectors and the nickel mining and processing industry — which has been facing an unprecedented crisis for the past two years.

Unemployment benefits
There was also a significant chapter dedicated to the duration of special unemployment benefits for those who have lost their jobs due to the riots’ destruction.

Another sensitive point raised was the long and difficult process for businesses (especially very small, small and medium) damaged and destroyed for the same reasons to get insurance companies to pay compensation.

Most insurance companies represented in New Caledonia have, since the May 2024 riots, cancelled the “riot risk” from their insurance coverage.

This has so far made it impossible for riot-damaged businesses to renew their insurance cover under the same terms as before.

French assistance to post-riot recovery in New Caledonia includes a 1 billion euros (NZ$1.8 billion) loan ceiling and a special fund of some 192 million euros (NZ$350 million) dedicated to the reconstruction of public buildings, mainly schools.

New Caledonia’s students are returning to school next week as part of the new academic year.

“(France) needs to be there so that the economic slump (caused by the riots) does not turn into a social disaster which, in turn, would exacerbate political fractures”.

“The government of France will be on your side. No matter what happens. We are absolutely taking charge of our responsibilities.”

The “economic Forum” was also the first time delegations from all political tendencies, even though they did not talk to each other directly, were at least sitting in the same room.

“Thank you all for being here, this is a beautiful picture of New Caledonia. Maybe the economy can do more than politics”, Valls told the Economic Forum last Saturday.

Next step: ‘trilateral’ meetings
The next step, in New Caledonia, is for Valls to attempt holding “trilateral” meetings (involving all parties, pro and anti-independence and France) around the same table, which was not the case in Paris last week.

The format of those Nouméa talks, however, “remains to be determined”.

Valls said he could stay in New Caledonia for as long as one week because, he said, “I want to take time”, including to not only meet politicians, but also economic and civil society stakeholders.

The 62-year-old French minister, who is also a former Prime Minister, as a political adviser to the then French Socialist Prime Minister Michel Rocard, was involved in the signing of the Matignon Accord, signed in 1988 between France, pro-independence and pro-France parties, which effectively put an end to half a decade of quasi civil war in the French Pacific archipelago.

He also stressed that any future discussion would be based on the “foundation and basis” of the Matignon and Nouméa Accords which, he said, was “the only possible way”.

The Nouméa Accord, signed in 1998 between the same parties, paved the way for a gradual transfer of powers from France to New Caledonia as well as a status of wider autonomy, often described in the legal jargon as “sui generis”.

Until now, under the Nouméa Accord, the key powers remaining to be transferred by France were foreign affairs (shared with New Caledonia), currency, law and order, defence and justice.

New Caledonia’s authorities have not requested the implementation of the transfer for another three portfolios: higher education, research, audiovisual communication and the administration of communes.

An exit protocol
But the 1998 deal also included an exit protocol, depending on the results of three referendums on self-determination.

Those referendums were held in 2018, 2020 and 2021 and they all yielded a majority of votes against independence.

However, New Caledonia’s pro-independence movement largely boycotted the third poll and has since contested its validity.

Pro-France and pro-independence camps hold radically different views on how New Caledonia should evolve in its post-Nouméa Accord (1998) future status.

The options mentioned so far by local parties range from a quick independence (a five-year process to begin in September 2025 following the anticipated signature of a “Kanaky Accord”) to some sort of yet undefined “shared sovereignty” that could imply an “independence-association”, or a status of “associated state” for New Caledonia.

Pro-France parties, however, have previously stated they were determined to push for New Caledonia to remain part of France and, in corollary, that New Caledonia’s three provinces (North, South and Loyalty Islands) should be granted more separate powers, a formula sometimes described as “internal federalism” but criticised by pro-independence parties as a form of “apartheid”.

Complicating factor
Another complicating factor is that both sides — pro-independence and pro-France camps — are also divided between moderate and radical components.

Last week, during question time in Parliament, Valls expressed concern at the current polarised situation: “People talk about racism, civil war. A common and shared project can only be built through dialogue.

“The (previously signed, respectively in 1988 and 1998) Matignon and Nouméa Accords, both bearing the prospect of a decolonisation process, are the foundation of our discussions. I would even say they are part of my DNA,” the minister said.

Referring to any future outcome of the current talks, he said they will have to be “inventive, ambitious, bold in order to build a compromise and do away with any radical position, all radical positions, in order to offer a common project for New Caledonia, for its youth, for concord and for peace”.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The main provincial road linking New Caledonia’s capital, Nouméa, to the south of the main island will be fully reopened to motorists after almost eight months.

Route Provinciale 1 (RP1), which passes through Saint Louis, had been the scene of violent acts — theft, assault, carjackings — against passing motorists and deemed too dangerous to remain open to the public.

Instead, since the violent riots that started in mid-May 2024, residents of nearby Mont-Dore had to take special sea ferries to travel to Nouméa, while police and gendarmes gradually organised protected convoys at specific hours.

The rest of the time, motorists and pedestrians were “filtered” by law enforcement officers, with two “locks” located at each side of the Saint Louis village.

The troubled road was even fully closed to traffic in July 2024 after tensions and violence in Saint Louis peaked.

Last Friday, January 31, French High Commissioner Louis Le Franc announced that the RP1 would be fully reopened to traffic from today.

Gendarme patrols stay
The French High Commission, however, stressed that the law enforcement setup and gendarme patrols would remain posted “as long as it takes to ensure everyone’s safety”.

“Should any problem arise, the high commission reserves the right to immediately reduce traffic hours,” a media release warned.

The RP1’s reopening coincides with the beginning, this week, of crucial talks in Paris between pro-independence, pro-France camps and the French state on New Caledonia’s political future status.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

As French Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government has fallen to a motion of no confidence just three months after coming to office, New Caledonia is among the major casualties of France’s ongoing political instability.

New Caledonia’s post-riots situation was already difficult, with an economy on its knees and an estimated €2.2 billion (NZ$3.9 billion) in damage because of the burning and looting that erupted on May 13.

More than 600 businesses have been destroyed, making thousands of people jobless, and forcing companies to shut down.

Last week, several business leaders groups were complaining that even the packages promised by Paris were slow to arrive and that they needed “visibility” to start re-investing and rebuilding.

The recovery process had been difficult to kick-start with much-needed financial assistance from France.

One month after the riots, French President Macron decided to dissolve the National Assembly and call for snap elections.

Until September, New Caledonia’s political leaders found it difficult to negotiate with a caretaker government, until Macron appointed Barnier as Prime Minister, on 5 September 2024.

Barnier appointed PM on September 5
From day one, Barnier announced that a controversial constitutional amendment to modify eligibility conditions at New Caledonia’s local elections was not to be pursued.

He also appointed François-Noël Buffet as his Overseas Minister, particularly in charge of New Caledonia, announced a “dialogue and concertation [cooperation]” mission led by both presidents of France’s Houses of Parliament, Gérard Larcher (Senate) and Yaël Braun-Pivet (National Assembly).

Larcher and Braun-Pivet both visited New Caledonia in November to pave the ground for a resumption of political dialogue regarding New Caledonia’s future status, strongly hinting on a notion of “shared sovereignty” while at the same time assuring of their support to New Caledonia.

Over the past few months, France’s financial assistance to help New Caledonia recover and rebuild has been slowly taking shape.

The long-term financial package, among other measures, included a credit line of up to €1 billion (NZ$1.8 billion), with a guarantee from the French State, to be mainly activated through the French Development Agency (Agence Française de Développement, AFD).

New Caledonia’s ‘PS2R’ plan
On New Caledonia’s side, the government and its President Louis Mapou have been working on a “PS2R” (Plan de Sauvegarde, de Refondation et de Reconstruction [Salvage, Refoundation and Reconstruction Plan]), which intends to rebuild and reform New Caledonia’s economic fabric, making it leaner and more flexible.

Another mechanism, made up of a cross-partisan group of local parliamentarians, was also seeking French finance, but with a different approach than that of Mapou — it intends to mainly obtain not loans, but grants, based on the idea that the French loans would bring New Caledonia to an unsustainable level of debt.

As Mapou returned from Paris last week with a French reaffirmation of its assistance and loan package, the “pro-grants” bipartisan group was still there this week to ensure that France’s 2025 Appropriation Bill (budget) effectively contains amendments specifically related to New Caledonia.

Now that this Bill is effectively no more, due to Barnier and his government’s downfall, New Caledonia’s political and business leaders feel the whole work has to be started all over again.

“Our overseas territories will pay the hard price. This will pause many crucial measures with a direct impact on their economic, social and environmental development”, Buffet anticipated in a release on Tuesday, ahead of the no-confidence vote.

He said the repercussions were going to be “very serious”.

A last-minute Bill for emergency expenses
The only short-term hope would be that the French National Assembly passes an “end of management” Bill 2024 that would, at least, allow extremely urgent finances to be made available for New Caledonia, including French assistance mobilised until the end of this year.

“Without this, as soon as mid-December 2024, New Caledonia would be faced with dramatic consequences such as the inability to pay public servants’ salaries, including health doctors, or to pay unemployment benefits or to fund the production of energy”, New Caledonian representative MP in the National Assembly Nicolas Metzdorf explained on Tuesday.

The crucial “end of management” 2024 Bill, which is worth some US$237.6 million, is expected to be put to the vote and hopefully endorsed before the no confidence vote and before the current session goes into recess.

On Tuesday, Metzdorf and his colleague, Senator Georges Naturel, also jointly warned on the very real risks associated with the downfall of the present French government.

“Over the last few weeks, the Barnier government has demonstrated it had the capacity to listen and act for New Caledonia”, they jointly stated.

“Now if his government is unseated, for us, this will mean more business will shut down, thousands of New Caledonian employees who will no longer receive their partial or total unemployment benefits, families to jump into despair and an extremely precarious situation”.

Fears for ‘hunger riots’
Over the past few weeks, several New Caledonian politicians have warned of a serious risk for what they term “hunger riots” in the French Pacific archipelago, following the economic situation caused by the May 13 insurrection and destruction.

New Caledonia’s parliamentarians, both pro-France and pro-independence, were all saying they did not support the no-confidence motion against Barnier.

“We’ve already seen what impact the [June] dissolution has caused and how difficult it was to engage in talks [with France]”, pro-independence MP for New Caledonia at the National Assembly Emmanuel Tjibaou said in Paris.

“With this 2024 Appropriation Bill, at least we had something, even if it was not perfect. Now here we no longer have anything”, said New Caledonian politician Philippe Dunoyer (from the moderate pro-French Calédonie Ensemble party).

Impact on political talks
Dunoyer also pointed out this is not only about financial assistance, but about politics, as local parties were preparing to resume crucial talks regarding New Caledonia’s long-term political future status.

“We are engaged in an approach to go back to talks. And we don’t have much time to reach an agreement”.

He and others are pointing the finger at a necessary “stability” for talks to resume.

New Caledonia’s Congress is also working on endorsing, as fast as possible, as many resolutions that would allow to “seal” as many French financial commitments as possible so it would maximise as many sources of income as possible.

“We really didn’t need this, nothing has been spared to us during this mandate,” Metzdorf said earlier this week.

“But we’ll keep doing as we always do — we’ll fight,” he said in Paris.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

New Caledonia has gone through yet another day of tense political protests and a failed prison mutiny — a few hours ahead of a vote in Paris’s National Assembly on a government-tabled Constitutional amendment.

This amendment would “unfreeze” the list of eligible voters at local elections.

Demonstrations, marches and confrontations with security forces spread throughout the French Pacific territory yesterday, with flash points in the suburbs of the capital Nouméa, especially the villages of Saint Louis and nearby Mont-Dore.

Several vehicles were burned on the roads.

By last evening, several violent confrontations were still taking place between pro-independence militants and police.

At Nouméa’s central prison, Camp Est, three penitentiary staff were briefly taken hostage by inmates, as part of a botched mutiny within the jail.

The hostages were later released.

Public services and schools in the affected areas announced they were sending staff and students home yesterday, and that they would remain closed for the next few days.

Marches were organised by a pro-independence “field action coordination committee” (CCAT) close to the Union Calédonienne party (UC), one of the main components of the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS).

CCAT said in a release this was “stage two and a half” (out of three stages) of its mobilisation.

It involved marches in New Caledonia’s Loyalty Islands group, including Lifou, where at least 1000 people were estimated to have taken part in demonstrations.

French High commissioner’s warning
French High Commissioner Louis Le Franc announced through the public broadcaster La Première that he had called for reinforcements from Paris to maintain law and order.

This included police, gendarmes and members of the SWAT group GIGN (Gendarmerie National Intervention Group) and RAID.

Law enforcement officers were injured by stones and shots were fired from within Saint Louis on Monday, he said.

He said some of the weapons used by “youth” were high calibre hunting guns.

Le Franc also warned if, in future, law enforcement officers were targeted again, they would consider themselves in a situation of “legitimate defence” and would retaliate.

“So I’m warning these young people . . .  They should stop using weapons against gendarmes,” he said.

“I don’t want to see dead people in New Caledonia, but everyone should take their responsibility.

“I have also asked the custom chiefs [of Saint Louis] to do their job. They have an influence over these young people; they should restore calm.”

He told journalists most delinquents seemed to be under the influence of alcohol.

Le Franc also announced for the next 48 hours he had placed a ban on port and transport of weapons and ammunition, as well as another ban on the sale of liquor.

“Thirty-five gendarmes have been injured [on Monday] by stones and gunshots of large calibre, semi-automatic hunting guns. These are about 200 aggressive youths,” he told the public media.

While appealing for calm and respect for public order, he also strongly condemned the blockades and said the police and gendarmes’ first mission was to restore freedom of movement at blockades.

About 15 people were arrested yesterday, he said.

Macron to invite leaders for talks
In an apparent wish to give more time for a local, inclusive agreement to take place, French President Emmanuel Macron’s entourage told French media at the weekend he would not convene the French Congress (a special gathering of both Houses of Parliament) for “several weeks”.

The French President’s office was also ready to call on all of New Caledonia’s political parties (both pro-France and pro-independence) for a roundtable in Paris by the end of May, in order to find an agreement on New Caledonia’s long-term political future.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

RNZ Pacific

One of New Caledonia’s pro-independence parties, Palika, says it is prepared to meet the French ministers due in Noumea this month to follow up on the aftermath of the 1998 Noumea Accord.

Among a dearth of formal contact this year, the Palika said the talks could be about a possible framework allowing for New Caledonia’s independence in partnership with France.

Last week, Palika, along with the other parties making up the FLNKS movement, stayed away from what Paris called the Convention of Partners, hosted by French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne to discuss the future status of New Caledonia.

The meeting was the first gathering involving the prime minister since last December’s third and last referendum, in which 96 percent voted against full sovereignty.

The Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) refuses to recognise the result as the legitimate outcome of the decolonisation process, calling instead for bilateral talks with the French government.

A Palika spokesperson, Charles Washetine told La Premiere television that Palika wanted to attend the Paris talks but followed the stance of other FLNKS parties which had reneged on a commitment made in September to travel to France.

Washetine said he was keen to start discussions as quite a bit was on the agenda for 2024 when the next provincial elections are due.

Dealing with decolonisation
He said for his side it was important to know how to deal with the decolonisation as outlined in the Noumea Accord, which is transitional in nature.

At the heart of it, he said, was the transfer of power from France to New Caledonia, adding that work had to be done to complete the process.

He said the outstanding powers, which include defence and policing, could be shared in a partnership with France.

At last Friday’s Paris talks, attended by New Caledonia’s leading anti-independence politicians, Borne said they marked the beginning of discussions on the future status of New Caledonia.

She added that Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin and Overseas Minister Jean-Francois Carenco would visit Noumea in November.

With a target date of mid-2023, Borne wants to conclude an audit of the decolonisation to assess the support given to New Caledonia by the French state since 1988.

She said it was agreed with the anti-independence leaders in attendance that they would broaden the scope of the discussions beyond the institutional questions, by also addressing vital subjects for the future of New Caledonians.

Equal opportunities
These include equal opportunities and social cohesion, economic development and employment, energy sovereignty and ecological transition as well as common values and reconciliation.

Borne said working groups would be organised in Noumea by the High Commissioner.

Washetine said the pro-independence side would co-operate but added that amalgams should be avoided as some powers were within the competences of New Caledonia.

This year, there has been little formal contact between the pro-independence leaders and the French government, with Paris being accused of being deaf to their demands.

Washetine said if the referendum had been held under normal conditions, the situation would perhaps be different.

In Paris, however, Borne said after meeting the anti-independence politicians that she was delighted with the spirit of responsibility and consensus of the exchanges, describing them as “faithful to the tradition of the agreements of 1988 and 1998”.

With talks now likely in New Caledonia, Washetine said he hoped that the upcoming period would deal with the fundamental questions, adding that “things can’t be done without the Kanak people”.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne says her meeting with New Caledonia’s anti-independence leaders in Paris marks the beginning of discussions on the future status of New Caledonia.

The meeting was called as the decolonisation process under the 1998 Noumea Accord had concluded with rejection of full sovereignty in last December’s third referendum on independence from France.

All key parties were invited to chart the next step, but the pro-independence Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) — who reject the third referendum as they did not participate because of the covid-19 pandemic — stayed away from the gathering, labelled the Convention of Partners.

In September, the Overseas Minister Jean-Francois Carenco said the FLNKS would be at the Paris talks.

In comments after the meeting, Borne said she was delighted with the spirit of responsibility and consensus of the exchanges, describing them as “faithful to the tradition of the agreements of 1988 and 1998”.

She said as a transition period begins, the delegates noted the need to base their reflections on the lessons of experience.

Borne said they agreed to launch an audit of the decolonisation to assess the support given to New Caledonia by the French state since 1988 with regard to the international law.

Broaden the discussions
She said it was agreed to broaden the scope of the discussions beyond the institutional questions, by also addressing the vital subjects for the future of New Caledonians.

These include equal opportunities and social cohesion, economic development and employment, energy sovereignty and ecological transition as well as common values and reconciliation.

Borne said working groups would be organised in Noumea by the High Commissioner in November.

The work is expected to be concluded in mid-2023, with her adding that it would only succeed if all political forces contributed to it.

Last year, Paris announced plans for a new referendum in June on a new statute, but the project has been deferred in the face of the pro-independence parties’ refusal to engage in the process outlined by France.

To progress negotiations, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin will travel to New Caledonia in November together with Carenco, who in September was the first French minister to visit Noumea since the formation of the Borne government in June.

Got ‘best they could’
One of New Caledonia’s members of the French National Assembly, Nicolas Metzdorf, said they got the best they could in the absence of the pro-independence politicians.

He said with a timetable and a working method, he hoped they would come back to the discussion table.

Metzdorf said if they wanted to add working groups of their own, they had every opportunity to do so.

None of the parties making up the FLNKS attended the talks in France because in part they refuse to recognise the vote as the legitimate outcome of the decolonisation process.

The FLNKS has signalled that its discussions with Paris will have to centre on ways to complete the territory’s decolonisation.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz