New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters has used a speech in Paris to urge France to keep an open mind about a new path forward for New Caledonia.

He also wants to deepen New Zealand’s relationship with France, and wants a stronger focus from the European country on the Pacific.

Titled “The Path Less Travelled” in a nod to American poet Robert Frost, the half-hour speech was delivered to the French Institute of International Relations to an audience that included dignitaries from the government and the diplomatic corps.

Peters highlighted geopolitical trends: a shift in countries’ focus from rules to power, from economics to security and defence, and from economic efficiencies to resilience and sustainability.

“These shifts present challenges for a small trade-dependent country like New Zealand. Some of these challenges are familiar, but others, those mostly driven by technology, are new,” Peters said.

After speaking about the value of free trade agreements — highlighted by New Zealand’s recent FTA with the European Union — he raised the spectre of security flashpoints, including the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.

“We are also deeply concerned by North Korea’s evolving nuclear capability and ambition. Those concerns are heightened by its supply of troops to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, another flagrant breach of international law and UN resolutions.”

‘Relentless securitisation of the Pacific’
“The relentless securitisation of the Pacific and a breakdown in long-standing cooperation norms in Antarctica mean New Zealand cannot stay out of the way of geopolitics.”

He pointed to New Zealand’s foreign policy agenda, including a focus on South East Asia and India, neighbours in the Pacific, tackling multi-country problems through multilateral discussion, setting up new multilateral groupings to navigate “impasses or blockages”, and promoting the coalition’s goal of boosting export values through diplomacy.

“To achieve this ambitious agenda, we knew we needed to give more energy, more urgency, and a sharper focus to three inter-connected lines of effort: Investing in our relationships, growing our prosperity, and strengthening our security.

He urged France to deepen the relationship with New Zealand, helping advance Pacific priorities and protecting the international rules-based order, drawing on France’s interest and involvement in the region, as well as its diplomatic, development, military and humanitarian supports.

“As a country, we’ve got the tools to make a big impact . . . Pacific regionalism sits at the core of New Zealand’s Pacific approach … but New Zealand cannot meet these needs alone,” he said.

“We will increasingly look to cooperate with our traditional partners like France and other close partners who share our values and interests. We want to deepen our cooperation with France to advance Pacific priorities, to strengthen existing regional architecture, to protect the international rules-based order, and to ensure the prosperity of future Pacific generations.”

If the French needed encouragement, Peters pointed to the shared values that underpin the partnership, saying the two countries “share the same democratic pulse”, saying the fraternité — brotherhood — of France’s motto evoked a sense of moral obligation for governments “to protect all of their their citizens and provide them with the conditions to prosper”.

New Caledonia at ‘turning point’
Peters soon turned to the deadly riots in New Caledonia, saying New Zealand welcomed the efforts to restore security and help get foreigners including New Zealanders out.

The agreements between Paris and Nouméa in the 1980s and 1990s, he said, represented the road less travelled, “one where France and New Caledonia walked together”.

“But now, in 2024, that road has become overgrown and blocked by choices already made and actions already taken.”

The archipelago remains in something of a standoff after the riots that broke out in May over calls for independence.

France retains control of the military, but Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka — after a long-delayed visit alongside his Cook Islands and Tonga and the Solomon Islands Foreign Minister — this month offered to deploy a peacekeeping force under the Pacific Policing Initiative.

Peters urged France to think carefully about its next steps, and keep an open mind about the path forward.

“That in Nouméa and Paris, the key to restore the spirit of earlier understandings is for all parties to have open minds about their next crucial choice, about a new path forward, because France and the people of New Caledonia stand at a new turning point,” he said.

“Rather than dwell on old questions, we think there is an opening for everyone who cares about New Caledonia to use our imaginations to think of a new question.

“There are all sorts of constitutional models out there, including across the Pacific. For instance, New Zealand has learned from its experience of having different types of constitutional relationships with realm countries — the Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau.

“Our realm relationships are stable and mutually beneficial, so enduring, and the constitutional mechanisms provide for maximum self-determination while ensuring that New Zealand’s security and defence interests remain protected.”

Peters said New Zealand deeply respected France’s role in the region, “and we are in no doubt that the economic might of France is essential to reestablishing a vibrant New Caledonian economy”.

“We stand ready to help in any way we can, and we trust France appreciates . . .  ‘there is nothing better than the encouragement of a good friend’, because that is the animating spirit behind our words today.”

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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” used by French police resulting in a “summary execution” and called for an independent investigation.

The shootings bring the number of deaths in the Pacific territory to 13 since unrest began in May over French government changes to a voting law that indigenous Kanak people feared would compromise their push for independence.

The men were killed in a confrontation between French gendarmerie and Kanak protesters in the tribal village of Saint Louis, a heartland of the independence movement near the capital Nouméa.

Public Prosecutor Yves Dupas said in a media statement the police operation using armoured vehicles was to arrest suspects for attempted murder of officers and for armed robbery on the Saint Louis road, with “nearly 300 shots noted in recent months.”

“The two deceased persons were the subject of a search warrant, among a total of 13 persons implicated, sought and located in the Saint Louis tribe,” Dupas said, adding they had failed to respond to summonses.

Dupas ordered two investigations, one over the attempted murders of police officers and the second into “death without the intention of causing it relating to the use of weapons by the GIGN gendarmerie (elite police tactical unit) and the consequent death of the two persons sought”.

Push back ‘peaceful solution’
Union Calédonienne (UC) secretary-general Dominique Fochi said yesterday the actions of French security forces “only worsen the situation on the ground and push back the prospect of a peaceful solution.”

“The FLNKS denounces the barbaric and humiliating methods used by the police, who did not hesitate to carry out a summary execution of one of the young people in question,” Fochi read from a FLNKS statement at a press conference.

“We demand an immediate de-escalation of military interventions in the south of our country, particularly in Saint Louis, where militarisation and pressure continue on the population, which can only lead to more human drama.”

The statement called for an immediate “independent and impartial investigation to shed light on the circumstances of these assassinations in order to establish responsibilities”.

Prosecutor Dupas said police came under fire from up to five people during the operation in Saint Louis and responded with two shots.

“The first shot from the policeman hit a man, aged 30, positioned as a lone sniper, who was wounded in the right flank. The second shot hit a 29-year-old man in the chest,” Dupas said, adding three rifles and ammunition had been seized.

One of the men died at the scene, while the other escaped and later died after arriving at a local hospital.

Kanaky-Nouvelle-Calédonie : Une colonie française 🇳🇨

Samir vous raconte l’histoire de la résistance kanak et vous explique pourquoi la France veut absolument garder la main sur cet archipel !

⏬ La vidéo ⏬ pic.twitter.com/gPCZFmlCGH

— Paroles d’Honneur (@ParolesDHonneur) September 18, 2024

Deaths raise Citizenship Day tensions
The deaths are likely to raise tensions ahead of Citizenship Day on Tuesday, which will mark the 171st anniversary of France’s takeover of New Caledonia.

For many Kanaks, the anniversary is a reminder of France’s brutal colonisation of the archipelago that is located roughly halfway between Australia and Fiji.

Paris has beefed up security ahead of Citizenship Day, with High Commissioner Louis Le Franc saying nearly 7000 French soldiers, police and gendarmes are now in New Caledonia.

“I have requested reinforcements, which have been granted,” he told local station Radio Rythme Bleu last week.

“This has never been seen before, even during the toughest times of the events in 1984 and 1988 — we have never had this,” he said, referring to a Kanak revolt in the 1980s that only ended with the promise of an independence referendum.

Authorities have also imposed a strict curfew from 6 pm to 6 am between September 21-24, restricted alcohol sales, the transport of fuel and possession of firearms.

Kanaks make up about 40 percent of New Caledonia’s 270,000 people but are marginalised in their own land — they have lower incomes and poorer health outcomes than Europeans who make up a third of the population and occupy most positions of power in the territory.

UN decolonisation process
New Caledonia voted by modest majorities to remain part of France in referendums held in 2018 and 2020 under a UN-mandated decolonisation process. Three votes were part of the Noumea Accord to increase Kanaks’ political power following deadly violence in the 1980s.

A contentious final referendum in 2021 was overwhelmingly in favour of continuing with the status quo.

However, supporters of independence have rejected its legitimacy due to very low turnout — it was boycotted by the independence movement — and because it was held during a serious phase of the covid-19 pandemic, which restricted campaigning.

Earlier this year, the president of Union Calédonienne proposed Septemnber 24 as the date by which sovereignty should be declared from France. The party later revised the date to 2025, but the comments underscored how self-determination is firmly in the minds of local independence leaders.

The unrest that erupted in May was the worst outbreak of violence in decades and has left the New Caledonian economy on the brink of collapse, with damages estimated to be at least 1.2 billion euros (US $1.3 billion).

Some 35,000 people are out of a job.

Copyright ©2015-2024, BenarNews. Republished with the permission of BenarNews.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Fears of potential unrest on New Caledonia’s symbolic September 24 date have prompted stronger restrictions in New Caledonia and the deployment of large numbers of French security personnel.

The date originally marked what France termed the “taking of possession” of New Caledonia in 1853.

Since 2004, what the pro-independence Kanak movement has been calling for years “a day of mourning”, was consensually renamed “Citizenship Day” by the local government in a move to foster a sense of inclusiveness and common destiny.

But since violent and deadly riots erupted four months ago, on May 13, the date has been mentioned several times by the pro-independence movement’s Union Calédonienne (UC) party.

Since the riots emerged, UC leader Daniel Goa publicly claimed he intended to use the date to declare unilaterally the French Pacific archipelago’s independence.

While the overall situation of New Caledonia has been slowly returning to some kind of normalcy and despite some pockets of resistance and roadblocks, including in the Greater Nouméa area, the French High commission on Friday announced a package of restrictions, combining the current curfew (10pm to 5am) with new measures.

‘I am being prudent’
High Commissioner Louis Le Franc told local media: “There is considerable force to ensure that law and order will prevail . . .  I am being prudent.

“I have asked for reinforcements and I have got them”, he told local anti-independence radio RRB on Friday.

He said it is more than what was ever sent to New Caledonia during the hardest moments of 1984-1988 when the territory was in a state of insurrection.

Le Franc detailed that the security contingent deployed would comprise “almost 7000” personnel, including mobile gendarmes, police (to “protect sensitive areas”) and military.

General Nicolas Mathéos, who heads the French gendarmes in New Caledonia, also stressed he was determined.

Speaking on Monday to local TV Caledonia, he said the reinforcements came as the French) state “has put in every necessary means to ensure this 24 September and the days before that take place in a climate of serenity”.

“New Caledonia now needs serenity. It needs to rebuild. It needs to believe in its future after this violent crisis,” he said.

Numbers ‘in control’
“We will be in numbers to hold the territory, to control it, including on the roads, so that this day is a day of peace.

“Because no one wants to go through again the nightmare of May.”

The general said reinforcements had already arrived.

“For the gendarmerie, this is almost 40 units mobilised.

“Public order will be maintained, on September 24, before September 24 and after  September 24.”

The curfew itself, which had been gradually relaxed over the past few weeks, is now returning to a stricter 6pm-6am duration for the whole of New Caledonia, specifically concerning the September 21-24 period (a long weekend).

Additional measures include a ban on all public meetings within Nouméa and its outskirts.

Firearms, alcohol banned
Possession, transportation and sale of firearms, ammunition and alcohol also remain prohibited until September 24.

Fuel distribution and transportation is subject to restrictions, the French High Commission said in a release on Friday.

High Commissioner Louis Le Franc told local media that the measures were taken due to the current circumstances and the appearance of some posts seen on social media which “call on public order disturbances on 24 September 2024”.

“Under those circumstances, a ban on circulation…is a measure that can efficiently prevent disruption of public order,” he said.

The restrictions, however, do not apply to persons who can provide evidence that they need to move within the prohibited hours for professional, medical emergency, domestic or international air and sea travel reasons.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan delegation from New Caledonia is scheduled to travel to Paris next week to meet high officials, including the presidents of both Houses of Parliament, French media has reported.

New Caledonia’s delegation is scheduled to travel from September 23 to October 4.

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The high-level Pacific mission to New Caledonia will be a three person-led delegation and it is still expected to happen prior to the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders (PIF) Meeting in Tonga on August 26, says PIF chair Mark Brown.

Brown, who is also the Cook Islands Prime Minister, made the comment at the PIF Foreign Ministers Meeting on Friday following French President Emmanuel Macron approving the mission.

“It’s important that everyone can assess the situation together with [France],” the French Ambassador to the Pacific, Véronique Roger-Lacan, told RNZ Pacific on Friday.

Brown said Tonga’s Prime Minister, Hu’akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni, may not be on the trip “because of pending obligations in preparation for the leaders meeting”.

“In which case the incoming troika member, Prime Minister of Solomon Islands [Jeremiah Menele], would be the next person,” he said.

“It will be a three-person delegation that will be leading the delegation to New Caledonia and the expectation is it will be done before the leaders meeting at the end of this month.”

Brown and Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka will both be on the mission.

‘Sensitive political dimensions’
“The Forum is very mindful of the nature of the relationship that New Caledonia as a member of the Forum has, but also France’s relationship with New Caledonia currently as a territory of France.

“There are some sensitive political dimensions that must be taken into account, but we feel that our sentiments as a Forum, firstly, is to try and reduce the incidents of violence that has taken place over the last few months and also to call for dialogue as the way forward.”

He said the decision around timing of the trip is up to the troika members — current chair, previous chair and incoming chair.

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s Foreign Affairs Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters prior to the announcement from France, said it was still to be worked out what role New Zealand would play on the New Caledonia mission.

“We are seriously concerned to ensure that the long-term outcome is a peaceful solution but also where the economics of New Caledonia is sustained, that’s important,” he said.

Peters said he expected that over time there would be more than one delegation sent to New Caledonia.

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

France has approved a high-level Pacific “fact-finding mission” to New Caledonia to gather information from all sides involved in the ongoing crisis.

“We are welcoming a mission of the troika for a fact-finding mission in New Caledonia before the [Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting],” the French Ambassador to the Pacific, Véronique Roger-Lacan, told RNZ Pacific in an exclusive interview today.

“I gave a letter to the [PIF] Secretary-General Baron Waqa and Prime Minister Mark Brown, the chair.

READ MORE

“It’s a good idea. It’s important that everyone can assess the situation together with [France].”

She said it was important that dialogue continued.

“We repeat the fact that these riots were conducted by a handful of people who contest democratic, transparent and fair processes, and that the French state has restored security, and is rebuilding and organising the reconstruction [of New Caledonia]. ”

Forum leaders wrote to French President Emmanuel Macron last month, requesting to send a Forum Ministerial Committee to Nouméa to gather information from all sides involved in the ongoing crisis.

The confirmation comes as the Forum foreign ministers are meeting in Suva, ahead of the 53rd PIF Leaders Summit on Tonga at the end of the month.

‘We are family’
Melanesian Spearhead Group chairperson and Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlot Salwai backs independence for New Caledonia through a democratic process.

“It’s a concern … and we decided to have a mission into New Caledonia to talk to the both sides,” Salwai said.

It has been almost three months since violence broke out in the French territory, killing 10 people, and causing tens of millions of dollars in damage to the economy.

Salwai told RNZ Pacific he had supported the independence of Melanesian countries for a long time.

“It’s not only a [PIF] member and neighbour, but we are family,” Salwai said.

“We are also for a long time Vanuatu support independence of Melanesian countries.

“We’re not going to interfere in the politics in France, but politically and morally, we support the independence of New Caledonia. Of course, it has to go through democratic process like a referendum, they are the ones to decide.”

Pacific leaders want to send a high-level Pacific mission to Nouméa before the end of the month.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

France is “checking” whether a high-level mission to New Caledonia will be possible prior to or after the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Summit in Tonga at the end of the month.

Forum leaders have written to French President Emmanuel Macron requesting to send a Forum Ministerial Committee to Nouméa to gather information from all sides involved in the ongoing crisis.

The French Ambassador to the Pacific, Véronique Roger-Lacan, will be in Suva on Friday for the Forum Foreign Ministers Meeting to “continue the dialogue . . . and explain the facts”.

She told RNZ Pacific that sending a mission to New Caledonia was a request and it was up to the PIF to decide if “anything is realistic”.

“Paris is checking whether it can be before the summit or after. We still need information,” she said.

Asked if France was open to the idea of such a visit by Pacific leaders, Roger-Lacan said: “Paris is always open for dialogue.”

On Monday, the incoming PIF chair and Tonga’s Prime Minister, Hu’akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni, confirmed he was still waiting to “receive any notification from Paris”.

“It’s very important for the Pacific Islands Forum to visit New Caledonia before the leaders meeting,” he said.

But Roger-Lacan said it is up to Paris to decide.

“New Caledonia is French territory and it is the State which decides on who enters the French territory and when and how.”

It has been almost three months now since violent unrest broke out in Nouméa after an amendment to the French constitution that would voter eligibility in New Caledonia’s local elections, which the pro-independence groups said would marginalise the indigenous Kanaks.

French security forces are still working on removing roadblocks, mainly in the capital Nouméa and its outskirts.

The death toll stands at 10 — eight civilians and two gendarmes. Senior pro-independence leaders who were charged for instigating the civil unrest are in jail in mainland France awaiting trial.

It is estimated over 800 buildings and businesses have been looted and burnt down by rioters.

There have been reports that people were leaving the territory for good in the aftermath of the unrest.

“There are lots of industries that have closed because of the burning and of the riots, and maybe those people are not sure that anything will reopen.

“When there is a place which is not worth investing anymore people change places. It’s normal life.”

She slammed the Pacific media for “not being very balanced” with their reports on the New Caledonia situation.

“Apparently, there have been people in the Pacific briefed by one side, not by all the sides, and they have to hear all the points of view.”

Saint-Louis still not under control
She said security was now “almost back”.

“There is one last pocket of of instability, which is the Saint-Louis community and there are 16,000 New Caledonian people who still cannot move freely within that area because there is  so many unrest.

“But otherwise, security has been brought back,” she added.

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A Kanak great chief has announced his resignation from New Caledonia’s customary Senate.

Hippolyte Sinewami Htamumu once presided over the 16-member traditional Senate of chiefs, which was set up as part of the implementation of the Nouméa Accord signed in 1998.

Sinewami, in announcing his resignation, said he wanted to denounce what he termed “inefficiency” and the “politicisation” of the Senate.

The institution is presented as being dedicated to New Caledonia’s indigenous Kanaks issues, including affairs related to customs, land and identity.

But Sinewami said one of the motivations leading to his resignation was that the Senate was not representative of all of New Caledonia’s chiefly areas; and that it was also too dependent on New Caledonia’s government and its Congress (Parliament).

“So now, more or less, it is as if it was just a government department because we’re depending on the government,” he told public broadcaster NC la Première TV.

The 47-year-old chief also said the institution had remained “silent” since violent unrest and riots broke out in the French Pacific archipelago and were still ongoing since May 13.

Sinewami, himself a great chief of the La Roche district (on Maré island, part of the Loyalty Islands group, north-east of New Caledonia’s main island) is also the leader of an alternate chiefly assembly, the Inaat ne Kanaky (Kanaky Great Council of Chiefs), which he set up in late 2022.

He also said many in the indigenous Kanak community believed that “the trust is no longer there, whether at the level of the customary institutions or at the level of our politicians”.

Widening Senate rift
“I didn’t see myself pursuing the work I have started with the youths while still being a member of such an institution,” he said, putting emphaisis on what is locally described as a widening rift within the customary Senate.

He called for New Caledonia’s institutions to ensure decisions made on the traditional level were “taken into account”, including in future political talks on New Caledonia’s long-term future.

A “Kanak people’s general assembly” is scheduled to be held on September 24, which, symbolically, is also the date in 1853 when France officially “took possession” of the territory.

Future talks: challenging politicians and France
Sinewami told local media that in view of the September meeting, his Inaat Ne Kanaky movement was now working to “reaffirm and reappropriate” Kanak rights.

“So September 24 is the declaration of sovereignty of the chiefdoms . . . This includes challenging the [French] state and even our elected politicians here, so that there is a place for our traditional people in future discussions.

“It is important that our voice is represented.”

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Véronique Roger-Lacan told RNZ Pacific with the Paris Olympics kicking off this week, it could be tough propping up security in time.

Pacific Islands Forum leaders have endorsed a high-level mission to New Caledonia.

Cook Islands Prime Minister and PIF chair Mark Brown said the Forum has a “responsibility to take care of our family in a time of need”.

He said PIF wants to support the de-escalation of the ongoing violence in New Caledonia through dialogue “to help all parties resolve this situation as peacefully and expeditiously as possible”.

In a statement, the Forum Secretariat said leaders recognise that any regional support to New Caledonia would require the agreement of the French government.

“The Pacific Islands Forum has requested the support of the French government and will work closely with officials to confirm the arrangements for the mission,” it said.

Leaders of Cook Islands, Fiji and Tonga
The idea is to send a Forum Ministerial Committee made up of leaders from Cook Islands, Fiji and Tonga.

However, Roger-Lacan said it was a big ask security wise to host three Pacific leaders while New Caledonia was in crisis mode.

On Tuesday, Franceinfo reported that Kanak politicians in France, Senator Robert Xowie and his deputy Emmanuel Tjibaou, said New Caledonia could not emerge from civil unrest until discussions resumed between the state and political parties.

“We cannot rebuild the country until discussions are held,” Xowie was quoted saying.

Tjibaou added.: “If we do not respond to the problems of the economic crisis, we risk finding ourselves in a humanitarian crisis, where politics will no longer have a place.”

Tjibaou, the first pro-independence New Caledonian candidate to win a National Assembly seat since 1986, has also asked the state for a “clear position” on the proposed electoral law reform bill.

The bill was suspended last month by Macron in light of the French snap election.

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

No progress has been made in sending a UN human rights mission to Indonesia’s Papuan provinces despite the appointment of Fiji and Papua New Guinea’s prime ministers to negotiate the visit.

Pacific Island leaders have for more than a decade requested the UN’s involvement over reported abuses as the Indonesian military battles with the West Papua independence movement.

The latest UN Human Rights Committee report on Indonesia in March was highly critical and raised concerns about extrajudicial killing, excessive use of force and enforced disappearances involving indigenous Papuans.

Fiji’s Sitiveni Rabuka and Papua New Guinea’s James Marape were appointed by the Melanesian Spearhead Group last year as special envoys to push for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ visit directly with Indonesia’s president but so far to no avail.

“We have not been able to negotiate terms for an OHCHR visit to Papua,” Commissioner Volker Türk’s office in Geneva said in a statement to BenarNews.

“We remain very concerned about the situation in the region, with some reports indicating a significant increase in violent incidents and civilian casualties in 2023.

“We stress the importance of accountability for security forces and armed groups operating in Papua and the importance of addressing the underlying grievances and root causes of these conflicts.”

Formal invitation
Indonesia issued a formal invitation to the OHCHR in 2018 after Pacific leaders from Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Tonga and Marshall Islands for years repeatedly called out the human rights abuses at the UN General Assembly and other international fora.

The Pacific Islands Forum — the regional intergovernmental organisation of 18 nations — has called on Indonesia since 2019 to allow the mission to go ahead.

“We continue establishing a constructive engagement with the UN on the progress of human rights improvement in Indonesia,” Siti Ruhaini, senior advisor to the Indonesian Office of the President told BenarNews, including in “cases of the gross violation of human rights in the past that earned the appreciation from UN Human Rights Council”.

Indonesia’s military offered a rare apology in March after video emerged of soldiers repeatedly slashing a Papuan man with a bayonet while he was forced to stand in a water-filled drum.

The latest UN report highlights “systematic reports about the use of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or ill-treatment in places of detention, in particular on Indigenous Papuans” and limited access to information about investigations conducted, individuals prosecuted and sentences.

In recent months there have been several deadly clashes in the region with many thousands reportedly left displaced after fleeing the fighting.

In June Indonesia was accused of exploiting a visit to Papua by the MSG director general to portray the region as “stable and conducive”, undermining efforts to secure Türk’s visit.

Invitation ‘still standing’
Siti told BenarNews the invitation to the UN “is still standing” while attempts are made to find the “best time (to) suit both sides.”

After years of delays the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) — whose members are Fiji, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and New Caledonia’s Kanak independence movement — appointed the two prime ministers last November to negotiate directly.

A state visit by Marape to Indonesia last week left confusion over what discussions there were over human rights in the Papuan provinces or if the UN visit was raised.

PNG’s prime minister said last Friday that, on behalf of the MSG and his Fijian counterpart, he spoke with incumbent Indonesian President Joko Widodo and president-elect Parbowo Subianto and they were “very much sensitive to the issues of West Papua”.

“Basically we told him we’re concerned on human rights issues and (to) respect their culture, respect the people, respect their land rights,” Marape told a press conference on his return to Port Moresby in response to questions from BenarNews.

He said Prabowo indicated he would continue Jokowi’s policies towards the Papuan provinces and had hinted at “a moratorium or there will be an amnesty call out to those who still carry guns in West Papua”.

During Marape’s Indonesian visit, the neighbours acknowledged their respective sovereignty, celebrated the signing of several cross-border agreements and that the “relationship is standing in the right space”.

Human rights ‘not on agenda’
Siti from the Office of the President afterwards told BenarNews there were no discussions regarding the UN visit during the meeting between Marape and Jokowi and “human rights issues in Papua were not on the agenda.”

Further BenarNews enquiries with the President’s office about the conflicting accounts went unanswered.

Indonesia is an associate member of the MSG and the ULMWP has observer status. Neither have voting rights.

“That is part of the mandate from the leaders, that is the moral obligation to raise whether it is publicly or face-to-face because there are Papuans dying under the eyes of the Pacific leaders over the past 60 years,” president of the pro-independence United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP), Benny Wenda, told BenarNews.

“We are demanding full membership of the MSG so we can engage with Indonesia as equals and find solutions for peace.”

Decolonisation in the Pacific has been placed very firmly back on the international agenda after protests in the French territory of Kanaky New Caledonia in May turned violent leaving 10 people dead.

Kanaky New Caledonia riots
Riots erupted after indigenous Kanaks accused France of trying to dilute their voting bloc in New Caledonia after a disputed independence referendum process ended in 2021 leaving them in French hands.

Meeting in Japan late last week, MSG leaders called for a new referendum and the PIF secured agreement from France for a fact-finding mission to New Caledonia.

While in Tokyo for the meeting, Rabuka was reported by Islands Business as saying he would also visit Indonesia’s president with Marape “to discuss further actions regarding the people of West Papua”.

An independence struggle has simmered in Papua since the early 1960s when Indonesian forces invaded the region, which had remained under separate Dutch administration after Indonesia’s 1945 declaration of independence.

Indonesia argues it incorporated the comparatively sparsely populated and mineral rich territory under international law, as it was part of the Dutch East Indies empire that forms the basis for its modern borders.

Indonesian control was formalised in 1969 with a UN-supervised referendum in which little more than 1,000 Papuans were allowed to vote. Papuans say they were denied the right to decide their own future and are now marginalised in their own land.

Indonesia steps up ‘neutralising’ efforts
Indonesia in recent years has stepped up its efforts to neutralise Pacific support for the West Papuan independence movement, particularly among Melanesian nations that have ethnic and cultural links.

“Indonesia is increasingly engaging with the Pacific neighboring countries in a constructive way while respecting the sovereignty of each member,” Theofransus Litaay, senior advisor of the Executive Office of the President told BenarNews.

“Papua is always the priority and programme for Indonesia in the attempt to strengthen its position as the Pacific ‘veranda’ of Indonesia.”

The Fiji and PNG leaders previously met Jokowi, whose second five-year term finishes in October, on the sidelines of a global summit in San Francisco in November.

The two are due to report back on their progress at the annual MSG meeting scheduled for next month.

“If time permits, where we both can go back and see him on these issues, then we will go but I have many issues to attend to here,” Marape said in Port Moresby on Friday.

Copyright ©2015-2024, BenarNews. Republished with permission of BenarNews.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

SPECIAL REPORT: Samidoun

On Friday, July 5, France announced the continued provisional detention on mainland France of 5 Kanak defendants, out of seven pro-independence “leaders” who had been deported from Kanaky New Caledonia on June 23.

The subsequent announcements of the arrest of 11 pro-independence activists, including 9 provisional detentions (including Joël Tjibaou and Gilles Jorédié, incarcerated in Camp Est) and 7 incarcerations in mainland France (Christian Tein, Frédérique Muliava, Brenda Wanabo-Ipeze, Dimitri Tein Qenegei, Guillaume Vama, Steve Unë and Yewa Waethane), more than 17,000 kilometres from their homeland, revived the mobilisations that had begun a month earlier as part of the fight against the plan to “unfreeze” the Kanaky electoral body.

Suspended after President Emmanuel Macron announced the dissolution of the National Assembly, this project actually aims to reverse the achievements of the Nouméa Accords signed in 1998.

It is part of the strategy of strengthening French colonialism in Kanaky by extending the ability to vote on local matters, including independence referandums, to an even greater number of settlers, making the indigenous Kanaks a de facto minority at the ballot box.

On July 11, 10 Centaur armoured vehicles, 15 fire trucks, a dozen all-terrain military armoured vehicles and numerous army trucks were landed by ship in Kanaky, where the population remains under curfew.

This entire sequence bears witness to the manner in which France, through its colonial administration, deploys a repressive security arsenal that on the one hand protects the settlers on the land and their reactionary militias, and on the other, attempts to destroy the country’s Kanak independence movement.

Imprisonment and incarceration are a weapon of choice in this overall colonial strategy.

Imprisonment is one of the key weapons of choice in colonial strategies to try to stifle independence and national liberation struggles, from the Zionist regime in Palestine to allied imperialist countries and colonial empires such as France.

While the figures are incomparable due to differences between the populations and conditions, in the West Bank, according to Stéphanie Latte Abdallah, one in three Palestinians has experienced one or more incarcerations during their life since 1967, or 35 percent of the population, while in Kanaky, the Nouméa prison, known as Camp Est, is populated by 95 percent Kanaks, while they represent only 39 to 43 percent of the Caledonian population.

Nicknamed “the island of oblivion” by the prisoners, the Camp Est prison locks up many young Kanaks excluded from the economic, educational and health systems, and symbolises the French colonial continuum, especially as the building partly occupies the space of the former French penal colony imposed there.

Silence of sociologists
Few studies exist of this over-incarceration of the Kanak population, and as Hamid Mokadem reminds us:

“The silence of sociologists and demographers on ethno-cultural inequalities is inversely proportional to the chatter of anthropologists on Kanak customs and culture.”

The incarceration rate is significantly higher than in mainland France, so much so that a new prison has been built.

The Koné detention center, and a project to replace Camp Est was announced in February 2024 by the Minister of Justice. He promised a 600-bed facility (compared to the 230 cells available at Camp Est) that would emerge after a construction project estimated at 500 million euros (NZ$908 million).

This is the largest investment by the French state on Kanak soil, a deadly promise that at the same time reaffirms France’s imperialist project in the Pacific, driven by its financial and geopolitical interests to retain its colonial properties there.

While waiting for this large-scale prison project, new cells have been fitted out in containers on which a double mesh roof has been installed, many without windows, and where the conditions of incarceration are even harsher than in the other sections of the prison, including those for men, women and minors, pre-trial detainees and those who have been convicted and sentenced.

The over-representation of the Kanak population has only increased, since incarceration has been one of the mechanisms through which the French government attempts to stem the movement against the plan to “unfreeze” and expand the electoral body, with 1139 arrests since mid-May.

The penalty of deportation
Local detention was supplemented by another penalty directly inherited from the Code de l’Indigénat: the penalty of deportation.

On June 23, after the announcement of the arrest of 7 Kanak independence activists in metropolitan France, the population learned that they were going to be deported 17,000 km from their homes.

A plane was waiting to transfer them to metropolitan France during their pretrial detention, all seven of them dispersed across the prisons of Dijon, Mulhouse, Bourges, Blois, Nevers, Villefranche and Riom.

This deportation of activists in the context of pre-trial detention directly recalls the events of 1988, and more broadly the way in which prison and removal were used in a colonial context.

From the 19th century and the deportation of Toussaint Louverture of Haiti to France, thousands of Algerians arrested during the uprisings against the French colonisation of Algeria at the same time as the detention of the prisoners of the Paris Commune in 1871, the Vietnamese of Hanoi in 1913, were deported to Kanaky or other colonies such as Guyana.

More recently, the Algerian revolutionaries, were massively incarcerated in metropolitan colonial prisons. From a principle inherited from the indigénat, and although today we have moved from an administrative decision to a judicial decision, the practice of deportation remains the same.

Particularly used in the context of anti-colonial resistance movements, the deportation of Kanak prisoners to metropolitan colonial prisons has been used on this scale since 1988 in Kanaky.

Ouvéa cave massacre
After the massacre of 19 Kanak independence fighters who had taken police officers prisoner in the Ouvéa cave, activists still alive were imprisoned, then deported, then released as part of the Matignon-Oudinot Accords.

Twenty six Kanak prisoners came to populate the prisons of the Paris region while they were still in preventive detention — while awaiting their trials and therefore presumed innocent, as is the case today for the CCAT activists currently incarcerated.

In the 1980s, French prisons were shaken by major revolts, particularly against the racism of the guards, who were mostly affiliated with the then-nascent Front National (FN), and more broadly against the penal policy of the Mitterrand left and the massively expanding length of sentences imposed at the time.

In 1988, as former prisoners wrote afterwards, some made a point of showing their solidarity with the Kanaks by sharing their clothes and food with them.

Because many of the activists were transferred in T-shirts, shorts and flip-flops, in trying conditions, with their hands cuffed during the 24-hour journey, underhand repression techniques of the Prison Administration that are still in force.

Similar deportation conditions were described by Christian Téin, spokesperson for the CCAT incarcerated in the isolation wing of the Mulhouse-Lutterbach Penitentiary Center. The  shock of incarceration is all the more violent.

Added to this is the pain of the forced separation of parents and children, which is found not only in the current situation in metropolitan France but also in Palestine. Also there is great difficulty in finding loved ones, in attempting to find out which prisons they are in, or even if they are currently detained, continually encountering administrative violence, with the absence of information and the cruelty of official figures.

Orchestrated psychological impact
All this is orchestrated so that the psychological impact, in the long term, aims to induce the prisoners and also their families to stop fighting.

At the time of the events in Ouvéa, the uprooting of independence activists from their lands to lock them up in mainland France was commonplace, and the Kanak detainees joined those from the Caribbean Revolutionary Alliance such as Luc Reinette and Georges Faisans, incarcerated in Île-de-France during the 1980s alongside Corsican and Basque prisoners.

Since then, this had only happened once, in the context of the uprisings in Guadeloup in 2021, where several local figures, mostly community activists, had been deported and then incarcerated in mainland France and Martinique in an attempt to stifle the revolts in which a large number of Guadeloupean youth were mobilised.

Here again, we could draw a parallel with Palestine. As Assia Zaino points out, since the 2000s, the incarceration of Palestinians has systematically been synonymous with being torn away from their families and loved ones.

Zionist prisons, located within the Palestinian territories colonised in 1948, “are integrated into the civil prison system [. . . ] and entry bans on Israeli soil are frequently imposed on the families of detainees for security reasons,” which in fact aims to attack the relatives of detainees and destabilise the national liberation struggle.

From prison, the struggle continues
This mass incarceration is confronted by the powerful presence of prisoners as symbols of courage and resistance.

We know that in Palestine, as during the Algerian war of national liberation, incarceration is an opportunity to learn from one’s people, to forge national revolutionary consciousness but also to continue the struggle, very concretely, by mobilising against incarceration.

Because the Palestinian prisoners’ movement has transformed the colonial prison into a school of revolution: each political party has a prison branch whose political bureau or leadership is made up of imprisoned leaders.

These branches have real weight in the decisions taken outside the walls, and they are the ones responsible for leading the struggle in the colonial prisons, in particular by declaring collective hunger strikes and developing alliances of struggle that can mobilise several thousand prisoners, but also for organising the daily life of revolutionaries in prison.

It was this movement of prisoners that played a major role in driving the Palestinian resistance groups to unite under a unified command with the total liberation of historic Palestine as their compass, and to overcome internal contradictions.

Historically, the prisoners also constituted a significant part the most radical elements of the Palestinian revolution, notably by massively refusing any negotiation with the Zionist state at the time when the disastrous Oslo Accords were being prepared.

Resistance in colonial prisons can also take cultural forms, as illustrated by the very rich Palestinian prison literature, composed of literary works written in secret and smuggled out by prisoners to bear witness to the outside world of the vitality of their ideals, their struggle and the conditions of detention.

Courage of the children
An example is Walid Daqqah, a renowned writer and one of the longest-held Palestinian prisoners, who was martyred on 7 April 2024 during his 38th year of detention in colonial prisons.

In short, from the children and adolescents who wear courageous smiles as they leave their trials surrounded by soldiers, to the women of Damon prison who heroically stand up to their jailers, to the resistance of the prisoners who fight by putting their lives and health at risk while having a central role in the Resistance outside, it is the daily struggle of the prisoners’ movement that makes detention a place where resistance to the colonial regime is organised, continuing even inside detention.

As Charlotte Kates, Samidoun’s international coordinator, said:

“Despite the intention to use political imprisonment to suppress Palestinian resistance and derail the Palestinian liberation movement, Palestinian prisoners have remained political leaders and symbols of steadfastness for the struggle as a whole.”

In Kanaky, it was the announcement of the incarceration of CCAT activists on June 23 that relaunched the movement, who became the driving forces behind this new round of mobilisation.

On May 13, while the population was setting up roadblocks on the main roads of Nouméa, a mutiny broke out in the Camp Est prison in reaction to the plan to unfreeze the electoral body.

The prison was therefore directly part of the mobilisation, and three guards were taken hostage on this first day of struggle. They were quickly released after the RAID (French national police tactical unit) intervened.

But during the night of May 14-15, another revolt took place in the prison, rendering no fewer than 80 cells unusable.

It is therefore in this context of uprising and intifada throughout Kanaky, both in prisons and outside, that the announcement of the deportation of the 7 Kanak leaders took place.

In addition to these highly publicised deportations, there were also dozens of similar cases of transfers from Camp Est.

Completely ignored by the government, these took place both before May 23 and during the month of July, including participants in the prison uprisings as well as long-term prisoners transferred to relieve congestion in the Kanak prison.

Silence which masks the scale of these colonial deportations only intends to make the task of the families and political supporters of the Kanaks even more difficult in their attempt to show solidarity with the prisoners.

Furthermore, upon their arrival in mainland France, the CCAT activists were separated into 7 different prisons, directly recalling the policy of dispersion already at work in Spain at the end of the 1980s against ETA prisoners, in reaction to the effectiveness of their prison organising.

Today as yesterday, the colonial power dispatches prisoners throughout the mainland to prevent a collective counter-offensive. The prisoners’ connections with one another, but also with the outside, are consequently largely hampered.

This isolation directly aims to break the movement by tearing off its “head” and preventing any form of common struggle against this confinement. We therefore know that the momentum of struggle outside seems to respond to a hardening of detention conditions inside prisons, as evidenced by the isolation in which the CCAT activists are kept.

Likewise in Palestine, where since last October 7, mass arrests have escalated to the development of military concentration camps characterised by inhumane conditions of incarceration where severe torture is a daily, routine occurrence.

Currently, both for the more than 9300 Palestinian prisoners detained in the 19 Zionist colonial prisons, and for the thousands of prisoners from Gaza arrested during the genocidal offensive of the occupying forces on the Strip incarcerated in military camps, the conditions of detention have deteriorated significantly.

If in the colonial prisons Palestinian prisoners suffer hunger, collective isolation, overcrowding, violence and physical and psychological torture, conditions which have led to the martyrdom of at least 18 prisoners since October 7, in the military detention camps the situation is even more extreme.

The thousands of prisoners from Gaza held there are handcuffed and blindfolded 24 hours a day, forced to kneel on the ground, motionless for most of the day, raped and sexually assaulted and tortured daily, which leaves the released prisoners with enormous trauma.

Sick prisoners are crammed in naked, equipped with diapers, on beds without mattresses or blankets, in military airplane hangars and warehouses and without any medical care.

In all cases, isolation reigns, in prisons as in military detention centers, and the Zionist regime aims to cut off the Palestinian prisoners — and their collective movement — from the outside world.

Stories of prison escapes
Beyond the heroic prison uprisings, many stories of escapes from colonial prisons also fuel resistance and demonstrate the resilience of prisoners.

In Palestine, to cite a recent example, we recall the “Freedom Tunnel” operation, where six Palestinian prisoners freed themselves from the Zionist-occupied Gilboa high-security prison by digging a tunnel using a spoon.

The six Palestinians — Mahmoud al-Ardah, Mohammed al-Ardah, Yaqoub Qadri, Ayham Kamamji, Munadil Nafa’at and Zakaria Zubaidi — became Palestinian, Arab and international symbols of Palestinian resistance and the will for freedom.

While they were all rearrested, their escape exposed the weaknesses under the colonial myth of “impenetrable Israeli security”, plunging the occupation’s prison system into an internal crisis.

In France, the CRAs (Administrative Detention Centres) represent an ultra-violent manifestation of racism and the management of exiles. People are locked up in terrible and therefore deadly conditions.

Thus, faced with colonial management of populations, particularly from former French colonies, resistance is being organised.

For example, on the night of Friday, June 21 to Saturday, June 22, 14 people held at the CRA in Vincennes managed to escape (only one person has been re-arrested since).

This follows the escape of 11 detainees in December from this same place of confinement. However, these detention centres are often recent and very well equipped.

From Palestine to the Hegaxone and the colonial prisons in Kanaky, the resistance fighters fight day by day within the prison system itself, and the escapes and uprisings in the prisons are events that weaken the colonial propaganda and its myth of invincibility and total superiority.

Resistance continues
Despite the tightening of detention conditions and the security arsenal that is deployed against liberation movements, it is clear that the resistance is not stopping and that, on the contrary, organizing is becoming even more vigorous.

In Kanaky, new blockades in solidarity with the prisoners have spread well beyond Nouméa since June 23, demanding their immediate release and repatriation to Kanaky, since “touching one of them is touching everyone”.

In mainland France, numerous gatherings have also taken place since Monday at the call of the MKF (Kanak Movement in France), and among others led by the Collectif Solidarité Kanaky in front of the Ministry of Justice in Paris, and also in front of the prisons where the activists are still incarcerated.

Their prison numbers have been made public so that it is possible to write to them and so that broad and massive support can be communicated to them in order to provide them with the strength necessary for this fight from metropolitan France.

From now on, tributes to the Kanak martyrs who fell under the bullets of the colonial militias and the French State are joined by banners for the freedom of the prisoners.

Marah Bakir, a representative of Palestinian women prisoners, arrested at the age of 15 by the colonial army and imprisoned for 8 years, made these comments during her first interview given upon her release on 24 November 2023:

“It is very difficult to feel freedom and to be liberated in exchange for the blood of the martyrs of Gaza and the great sacrifices of our people in the Gaza Strip.”  

The Kanaky ‘martyrs’:
Stéphanie Nassaie Doouka, 17, and Chrétien Neregote, 36, shot in the head on May 20 by a business manager.

Djibril Saïko Salo, 19, shot in the back on May 15 by loyalist settlers at a roadblock.

Dany Tidjite, 48, killed by an off-duty police officer who tried to impose a roadblock.

Joseph Poulawa, 34, killed on May 28 by two bullets in the chest and shoulder by the GIGN (the elite police tactical unit of the National Gendarmerie of France)

Lionel Païta, 26, killed on June 3 by a bullet to the head by a police officer at a roadblock.

Victorin Rock Wamytan, known as “Banane”, 38 years old, father of two children, killed on July 10 by a shot in the chest by the GIGN on customary lands

In Kanaky, the names of these martyrs, just like the 19 of the Ouvéa cave, will remain forever in the memory of the activists and people, and as one could read on another banner in Noumea: “The fight must not cease for lack of a leader or fighters, this direction remains forever. Kanaky”

This article, by Samidoun Paris Banlieue, was published first in French at: https://samidoun.net/fr/2024/07/la-question-carcerale-dans-la-colonisation-de-la-kanaky-a-la-palestine/. During the protests in Kanaky in May and ongoing, French military forces targeted demonstrators, imposed a countrywide ban on TikTok, and have seized multiple political prisoners from the Kanak independence movement. This article is republished from Samidoun.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Pacific Islands Forum hopes to send a high-level delegation to Kanaky New Caledonia to investigate the current political crisis in the French territory before the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders meeting in Tonga in August.

According to Pacnews, Forum Chair and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown confirmed this during an interview with journalists in Tokyo after the conclusion of the PALM10 meeting.

He said while it was a work in progress, there had been a request from the territorial government of New Caledonia for a high-level Pacific delegation.

Brown said the next step was to write a letter which would then need support from France.

“We will now go through the process of how we will put this into practice. Of course, it will require the support of the Government of France for the mission to proceed,” Brown said.

The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) has voiced strong objections to France’s handling of the political situation in Kanaky/New Caledonia.

Brown said the Forum shared similar concerns.

“We do have similar concerns. The third referendum was boycotted by the Kanak population because of the impacts of covid-19 and the respect for the mourning period. Therefore, the outcome of that referendum is not valuable,” he said.

The adviser to New Caledonia’s President Charles Wea, who is in Japan for talks on the sidelines of the PALM10 meeting, told RNZ Pacific the high level group would be made up of the leaders of Fiji, Cook Islands, Tonga and Solomon Islands.

Fiji’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sitiveni Rabuka announced he would lead the Forum’s fact-finding mission in New Caledonia.

“I have also been asked by many Pacific leaders to lead a group to conduct a fact-finding mission in Nouméa to understand the problems they are facing,” he said during a talanoa session with the Fijian diaspora in Tokyo.

“Additionally, I will accompany Prime Minister James Marape to visit the President of Indonesia to discuss further actions regarding the people of West Papua.”

New Zealand’s Foreign Affairs Minister Winston said on Friday that the Pacific Islands Forum could serve as a “constructive force” to find a “path forward” in New Caledonia.

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

“The situation has reached an impasse, and one not easily navigated given the violence that broke out — the democratic injuries that have reopened old wounds and created new ones.”

Peters is in Japan representing New Zealand at the 10th Japan-Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM10) hosted by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo.

He delivered a speech titled “Pacific Futures”, pointing to increasing challenges in the Indo-Pacific as context.

The speech was an opportunity to outline New Zealand’s foreign policy shift, and the minister made renewed calls for “more diplomacy, more engagement, more compromise”, particularly in New Caledonia.

Riots and armed clashes between indigenous Kanak pro-independence protesters and security forces in New Caledonia’s capital Nouméa erupted in May following an attempt by the French government to make constitutional amendments which would affect voting rights for 25,000 people.

Peters also raised questions around the legitimacy of the 2021 referendum on independence due to a “vastly reduced, and therefore different, sample of voters” and the “obvious democratic injury”.

Among the reasons
“Those two decisions were among the reasons, alongside growing inequalities and lack of prospects for the indigenous Kanak population, especially their youth, that led to the precarious situation that exploded into unrest in May.”

Though, he also understood the 25,000 potential voters may also feel “democratic injury” due to disenfranchisement.

NZ Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ full speech.   Video: NZ Embassy, Tokyo

“We raise this crisis here because the situation in New Caledonia is a test of the effectiveness of our regional architecture in dealing with crisis response,” he said.

“It also creates a chance for the Pacific Islands Forum to serve as a constructive force, helping to bring the parties together for an essential democratic dialogue and the path forward.

“In this role, the Pacific Islands Forum needs to find an appropriate mechanism and the best person or people to help facilitate dialogue, engagement or mediation as a path forward between the different actors in New Caledonia.”

He pointed to recent discussions between President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on New Caledonia on what role the Forum might play.

“Pacific Islands Forum countries by virtue of our locations and histories understand the large indigenous minority population’s desire for self-determination.

‘Deeply respect France’s role’
“We also deeply respect and appreciate France’s role in the region and understand France’s desire to walk together with New Caledonians towards a prosperous and secure future.”

The discussions come at a time where wider geopolitical implications are affecting the Pacific.

He said “Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine”, the “utter catastrophe still unfolding in Gaza”, and the risk of greater escalation in the Middle East were creating a more destabilised global security situation.

Peters said decision-makers should have their “eyes-wide open” to their country’s challenges, but also be “alert to opportunities that materially advance the prosperity and security of our citizens”.

“The call for renewed and vigorous diplomatic engagement provides the context for New Zealand’s foreign policy reset. The security environment has deteriorated sharply during the three years since last being foreign minister, accentuating an even longer-term deterioration of the rules-based order.”

Peters said New Zealand’s foreign policy reset is a response to “three big shifts underpinning the multi-faceted and complex challenges facing the international order” which he outlines:

• From rules to power, a shift towards a multipolar world that is characterised by more contested rules and where relative power between states assumes a greater role in shaping international affairs;
• From economics to security, a shift in which economic relationships are reassessed in light of increased military competition in a more securitised and less stable world; and
• From efficiency to resilience, a shift in the drivers of economic behaviour, and where building greater resilience and addressing pressing social and sustainability issues become more prominent.

New Zealand foreign minister calls for ‘more compromise’ on New Caledonia https://t.co/uwLAXokXAd

— Nikkei Asia (@NikkeiAsia) July 19, 2024

Southeast Asian focus
In response, Peters said the New Zealand government was “significantly increasing our focus and resources” to Southeast and North Asia, including Japan.

The government is also renewing engagement with “traditional like-minded partnerships” and supporting new groupings that “advance and defend our interests and capabilities”.

He mentions the IP4 and NATO as examples.

“We also knew we needed to give more energy, more urgency, and a sharper focus to three inter-connected lines of diplomatic effort: investing in our relationships, growing our prosperity, and strengthening our security.”

Peters will return to New Zealand on Saturday.

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A Kanak political commentator in Aotearoa New Zealand says calls to separate New Caledonia into pro- and anti-independence provinces would worsen racial inequality in the Pacific territory.

Unrest continues in the capital Nouméa, with the nephew of New Caledonia Congress pro-independence president shot and killed at Saint Louis, and more armoured vehicles arriving from France.

The official death toll as a result of the unrest stands at 10, but there are reports that more people have died because emergency services could not reach them in time due to roadblocks.

Calls to divide the territory’s provinces are being pushed by loyalist and the French territory’s Southern Province President Sonia Backes.

Speaking at the weekend, Backes said the project of a New Caledonia institutionally united and based on living together with each other was “over”.

AFP news agency reported Backes had said that when two opposing forces were convinced they were legitimately defending their values, they were faced with a choice of fighting each other to the death or separating so they could live.

Political uncertainty in Paris is delaying the possibility of any kind of resolution in the troubled territory, which is also fraught with internal divisions among both the pro- and anti-independence camps.

Pockets of inequality
Auckland lawyer Joseph Xulue told RNZ Pacific “separatist ideology” would create pockets of inequality.

“The support in the region, particularly, support in respect of economic resources, administrative resources would almost certainly be pumped into the Southern Province if this were to eventuate because France would understand that those are the people who are loyal to them,” he said.

Xulue said Backes’ ideas went against the spirit of the Nouméa Accord.

“It was agreed to and formed on the basis that we would not have this kind of separatist ideology. It helps to assent the actual Accord’s document . . .  [there’s a] stipulation that this would not happen.

“If Kanaky New Caledonia is going to advance beyond the actual Accord’s process.”

He added that Backes’ ideas would only worsen racial inequality in the archipelago.

‘Political reverberations’
Islands Business correspondent Nic Maclellan, who has been covering the French territory for decades, told RNZ Pacific the area where the latest death had been recorded had a long colonial history.

Maclellan said that in 1878 there was a revolt in the north and centre of the country, then in the 19th century, as the French military moved in attacking villages, many people fled to the outskirts of the capital.

He said nowadays Saint Louis was one of the areas where survivors from past conflicts had fled too.

“It has always been a hotspot, there has always been a level of criminal activity around people of St Louis. It is a strong community, largely Kanak,” he said.

“Police reports which is still under investigations suggest that a group of Kanaks were firing at a police drone. There was a exchange of gunfire between the Kanak activist and the members of the GIGN paramilitary unit and in that case a GIGN police officer shot and killed Rock [Victorin] Wamytan.”

Maclellan said the name of the dead man was symbolic in New Caledonia.

“[He] is nephew of Rock Wamytan, the current President of the Congress of New Caledonia who is a high chief of Saint Louis. So, beyond the allegations of criminal activity by this, this group of activists, it has also got political reverberations.”

French snap elections unhelpful
He said the French snap elections results both in mainland France and New Caledonia would continue to reverberate in months to come.

While the polls were predicting that the extreme right led by Marine Le Pen would win the largest bloc, and possibly a majority in the government, those polls turned out to be wrong.

Instead, a left alliance, known as the New Popular Front — an alliance of parties including the Greens, the Socialists, the Communist Party, and a large group led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, France Unbowed, (LFI), have got the largest bloc.

However, Maclellan said no one had the absolute majority required to have the ruling numbers in the 577-seat French legislature in Paris.

“All in all, it is very complex, a fast-moving situation in Paris. We will see what happens.

“But the real problem for the Pacific is this level of uncertainty creates ongoing political, cultural, economic chaos that cannot be helpful at a time when New Caledonia’s economy has been very badly damaged by weeks of rioting and clashes between police and protesters,” he added.

New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has said the Pacific as a whole should be concerned about ongoing unrest in New Caledonia.

The Pacific Islands Forum has been in direct contact with New Caledonia to discuss how to address this issue.

Peters said he hoped a plan was in place ahead of the Forum Leaders’ Meeting in Nuku’alofa next month.

“The long term Pacific future is all of our business. We have to hope that before we get to Tonga that there has been some sort of guideline of how we might go forward,” he said.

“Our view is that we have to ensure that there is a solution where we can help — help to rebuild if we can.”

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

More armoured vehicles and firetrucks have been delivered for Kanaky New Caledonia’s security forces, including police and firemen.

The France-freighted shipment consignment arrived aboard a cargo vessel, the Calao, the French High Commission announced on Thursday.

It contained 10 more armoured vehicles for the security forces, as well as 15 other vehicles said to benefit local firefighters.

The fire-fighting trucks will be delivered to the local Civil Security department.

“This is to pursue efforts to secure [New Caledonia] . . . It will be used to renew or replace equipment that has been damaged, including trucks and armoured vehicles,” French High Commissioner in New Caledonia Louis Le Franc said during a media briefing.

The 10 new armoured vehicles, known as Centaur, will be added to six others that were already deployed in New Caledonia since last month.

On board the same vessel, another batch of light armoured vehicles, dedicated to “exploration”, are described as bearing “reinforced windows” to protect passengers against bullets.

While efforts are ongoing to remove the numerous roadblocks in Nouméa and its suburbs, in the Northern Province, three French gendarmes have been injured and sustained bone fractures after their car was targeted and hit by a vehicle used by rioters, the French High Commission said.

One of the gendarmes has since been medically evacuated.

The incident took place in Houaïlou, in the north of the main island of Grande Terre.

Earlier incidents, especially in urban areas, involved home-made Viet Minh-like traps such as manhole covers being removed and dissimulated under branches, while sharp iron rods had been sealed inside the hole.

Several gendarmes who were tricked and fell into the hidden hole suffered serious injuries to the legs.

In other instances, especially on the roadblocks where French security forces are still trying to clear traffic access, gas bottles have been converted into explosive devices after being fitted with homemade remote-controlled detonators.

Saint Louis church presbytery destroyed by fire
Over the past few days, another hot point has been the village of Saint Louis, in the township of Mont-Dore (near Nouméa), where one rioter was killed earlier this week after firing gunshots to the gendarmes, who later retorted.

The death toll from the unrest is now 10.

On Thursday night, Saint Louis’s Catholic Mission, which had been set up in 1860 by the Marists, was set on fire and the presbytery (which had been occupied by rioters for the past few days) has been completely destroyed.

The Marist Brothers and Sisters had earlier been evacuated by French security forces.

Violent unrest has been ongoing in New Caledonia since mid-May, when riots, looting, arson, broke out.

This was initially in protest against a French government project to amend the Constitution and modify the rules of eligibility for local elections, a change perceived by the pro-independence movement as a bid to dilute the political strength of indigenous Kanak voters.

The riots, the worst since a quasi civil war erupted during the second half of the 1980s, have since caused the deaths of eight civilians and two French gendarmes.

Several hundred businesses and private residences were also set on fire and destroyed, for a total cost of some 2.2 billion euros (NZ$3.9 billion), according to the latest estimates.

As a result, several thousand employees have lost their jobs.

Two indicted women released – in home detention

Last month, a group of pro-independence activists was indicted and flown to metropolitan France, where they are now serving pre-trial detention in several jails.

They are facing a range of charges, revolving around allegations of “organised crime”.

The arrests prompted a fresh upsurge in violence.

Last Wednesday, the only two women in the group, Frédérique Muliava (chief-of-staff of pro-independence figure and New Caledonia Congress President Roch Wamytan) and Brenda Wanabo (described as communications officer of the controversial pro-independence “CCAT” – field actions coordination cell) have been allowed to leave their jail, located respectively in Riom (near Clermont-Ferrand) and Dijon (eastern France).

Pending their trial before a French court, the two will however remain under home detention in the same cities and wearing electronic monitoring bracelets.

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The voters in the second round of France’s national elections last weekend staved off an expected shift to the far-right. But the result in the Pacific territory Kanaky New Caledonia was also in many ways historic.

Of the two assembly representatives decided, a position fell on either side of the deep polarisation evident in the territory — one for loyalists, one for supporters of independence. But it is the independence side that will take the most from the result.

Turnout in the vote was remarkable, not only because of the violence in New Caledonia over recent months, which has curbed movement and public transport across the territory, but also because national elections have been seen particularly by independence parties as less relevant locally.

Not this time.

The two rounds of the elections saw voters arrive in droves, with 60 percent and 71 percent turnout respectively, compared to typically low levels of 35-40 percent in New Caledonia. Images showed long queues with many young people.

Voting was generally peaceful, although a blockade prevented voting in one Kanak commune during the first round.

After winning the first round, a hardline loyalist and independence candidate faced off in each constituency. The second round therefore presented a binary choice, effectively becoming a barometer of views around independence.

Sobering results for loyalists
While clearly not a referendum, it was the first chance to measure sentiment in this manner since the boycotted referendum in 2021, which had followed two independence votes narrowly favouring staying with France.

The resulting impasse about the future of the territory had erupted into violent protests in May this year, when President Emmanuel Macron sought unilaterally to broaden voter eligibility to the detriment of indigenous representation. Only Macron then called snap national elections.

These are sobering results for loyalists.

So the contest, as it unfolded in New Caledonia, represented high stakes for both sides.

In the event, loyalist Nicolas Metzdorf won 52.4 percent in the first constituency (Noumea and islands) over the independence candidate’s 47.6 percent. Independence candidate Emmanuel Tjibaou won 57.4 percent to the loyalist’s 42.6 percent in the second (Northern Province and outer suburbs of Noumea).

The results, a surprise even to independence leaders, were significant.

It is notable that in these national elections, all citizens are eligible to vote. Only local assembly elections apply the controversial voter eligibility provisions which provoked the current violence, provisions that advantage longstanding residents and thus indigenous independence supporters.

Independence parties’ success
Yet without the benefit of this restriction, independence parties won, securing a majority 53 percent (83,123 votes) to the loyalists’ 47 percent (72,897) of valid votes cast across the territory. They had won 43 percent and 47 percent in the two non-boycotted referendums.

Even in the constituency won by the loyalist, the independence candidate, daughter-in-law of early independence fighter Nidoïsh Naisseline, won 47 percent of the vote.

These are sobering results for loyalists.

Independence party candidate Emmanuel Tjibaou, 48, carried particular symbolism. The son of the assassinated founding father of the independence movement Jean-Marie Tjibaou, Emmanuel had eschewed politics to this point, instead taking on cultural roles including as head of the Kanak cultural development agency.

He is a galvanising figure for independence supporters.

Emmanuel Tjibaou is now the first independence assembly representative in 38 years. He won notwithstanding France redesigning the two constituencies in 1988 specifically to prevent an independence representative win by including part of mainly loyalist Noumea in each.

A loyalist stronghold has been broken.

Further strain on both sides
While both a loyalist and independence parliamentarian will now sit in Paris and represent their different perspectives, the result will further strain the two sides.

Pro-independence supporters will be energised by the strong performance and this will increase expectations, especially among the young. The responsibility on elders is heavy. Tjibaou described the vote as  “a call for help, a cry of hope”. He has urged a return to the path of dialogue.

At the same time, loyalists will be concerned by independence party success. Insecurity and fear, already sharpened by recent violence, may intensify. While he referred to the need for dialogue, Nicolas Metzdorf is known for his tough uncompromising line.

Paradoxically the ongoing violence means an increased reliance on France for the reconstruction that will be a vital underpinning for talks. Estimates for rebuilding have  exceeded 2 billion euros (NZ$3.6 billion), with more than 800 businesses, countless schools and houses attacked, many destroyed.

Yet France itself is reeling after the snap elections returned no clear winner. Three blocs are vying for power, and are divided within their own ranks over how government should be formed. While French presidents have had to “cohabit” with an assembly majority of the opposite persuasion three times before, never has a president faced no clear majority.

It will take time, perhaps months, for a workable solution to emerge, during which New Caledonia is hardly likely to take precedence.

As New Caledonia’s neighbours prepare to meet for the annual Pacific Islands Forum summit next month, all will be hoping that the main parties can soon overcome their deep differences and find a peaceful local way forward.

Denise Fisher is a visiting fellow at ANU’s Centre for European Studies. She was an Australian diplomat for 30 years, serving in Australian diplomatic missions as a political and economic policy analyst in many capitals. The Australian Consul-General in Noumea, New Caledonia (2001-2004), she is the author of France in the South Pacific: Power and Politics (2013).

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz