CoveragePost
November 21, 2025
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A rift within New Caledonia’s pro-independence movement has further widened after the second component of the “moderates”, the UPM (Progressist Union in Melanesia), has officially announced it has now left the once united Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS). The UPM announcement, at a press ... <a title="New Caledonia’s pro-independence split widens – another party quits FLNKS" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/11/21/new-caledonias-pro-independence-split-widens-another-party-quits-flnks/" aria-label="Read more about New Caledonia’s pro-independence split widens – another party quits FLNKS">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
June 29, 2024
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk Voters in New Caledonia will go to the polls this weekend under tight security, almost eight weeks after destructive and violent unrest broke out in the French Pacific archipelago. They will vote for their two representatives in the 577-seat French National Assembly, which was dissolved by ... <a title="New Caledonia votes first under tight security in French snap election" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/06/29/new-caledonia-votes-first-under-tight-security-in-french-snap-election/" aria-label="Read more about New Caledonia votes first under tight security in French snap election">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
June 17, 2024
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk The national congress of New Caledonia’s pro-independence platform, the FLNKS, was postponed at the weekend due to major differences between its hard-line component and its more moderate parties. The FLNKS is the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front. It consists of several pro-independence parties, including the Kanak ... <a title="Kanaky New Caledonia unrest: FLNKS congress postponed due to splits" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/06/17/kanaky-new-caledonia-unrest-flnks-congress-postponed-due-to-splits/" aria-label="Read more about Kanaky New Caledonia unrest: FLNKS congress postponed due to splits">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
September 27, 2023
By Nic Maclellan In a major electoral upset, Kanak independence politician Robert Xowie has won one of Kanaky New Caledonia’s two seats in the French Senate in Paris. His second-round electoral victory over Loyalist leader Sonia Backès came on September 24, the 170th anniversary of France’s annexation of its Pacific dependency. Xowie is the Mayor ... <a title="FLNKS mayor wins run-off poll to take unprecedented French Senate seat" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/09/27/flnks-mayor-wins-run-off-poll-to-take-unprecedented-french-senate-seat/" aria-label="Read more about FLNKS mayor wins run-off poll to take unprecedented French Senate seat">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
November 2, 2022
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 ... <a title="Pro-independence Palika ready to join dialogue on future of Kanaky New Caledonia" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2022/11/02/pro-independence-palika-ready-to-join-dialogue-on-future-of-kanaky-new-caledonia/" aria-label="Read more about Pro-independence Palika ready to join dialogue on future of Kanaky New Caledonia">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
July 24, 2022
RNZ Pacific New Caledonia’s pro-independence Palika party has joined the Caledonian Union in rejecting talks in Paris announced by the French Interior Ministry. The ministry called a meeting of the signatories to the 1998 Noumea Accord for September as France plans to draw up a new statute for New Caledonia after last December’s boycotted referendum ... <a title="Second Kanak party, Palika, joins boycott of French statute talks" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2022/07/24/second-kanak-party-palika-joins-boycott-of-french-statute-talks/" aria-label="Read more about Second Kanak party, Palika, joins boycott of French statute talks">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
April 6, 2022
RNZ Pacific New Caledonia’s largest pro-independence party says it will not give up on the gains made in terms of decolonisation from France under the 1998 Noumea Accord. Party president Daniel Goa made the statement in an address at the party congress in the north of the main island Grande Terre at the weekend, outlining ... <a title="Caledonian Union vows to end French ‘neo-colonial putsch’ in Pacific" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2022/04/06/caledonian-union-vows-to-end-french-neo-colonial-putsch-in-pacific/" aria-label="Read more about Caledonian Union vows to end French ‘neo-colonial putsch’ in Pacific">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
December 21, 2021
By Jan Kohout in Noumea There have been mixed opinions from New Caledonia’s communities after the third and final referendum returned a 96 percent vote against independence. While anti-independence parties welcomed the victory, the pro-independence Kanak side refuse to recognise the result. The turnout of potential voters was especially low among the Kanak community because ... <a title="‘France still doesn’t understand us Kanaks after 30 years of dialogue’" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2021/12/21/france-still-doesnt-understand-us-kanaks-after-30-years-of-dialogue/" aria-label="Read more about ‘France still doesn’t understand us Kanaks after 30 years of dialogue’">Read more</a>