The French president began a visit to New Caledonia to try to reestablish dialogue and accelerate the return to order in the archipelago, after a week of violence.
The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, rejected this Thursday, at the beginning of a visit to New Caledonia, a new referendum on the independence of the archipelagoscene of a week of violence.
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Macron appealed to “constructive appeasement” and seeking a political solution, but recalled the result of the three referendums that confirmed the maintenance of the status of the South Pacific archipelago as a French overseas territory.
“Appeasement cannot be a return to the past. Appeasement cannot be disrespectful to the popular expression that has already been made. Appeasement cannot be the denial in some way of a path already traveled,” stated the Head of State.
“However, we must bring all interested parties together again,” Macron defended. in a meeting with elected representatives and prominent businessmen of New Caledoniaat the French High Commission for the archipelago.
The French president landed this morning at the Noumea airport, at 8:20 local time (10:20 p.m. on Wednesday in Lisbon) to try to restablish dialogue and accelerate the return to order in the archipelagoafter a week of violence.
Macron should establish a mission composed of three senior officialsthat will continue “as long as necessary” and “will aim to promote local political dialogue to reach a global political agreement,” French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said in the Senate on Wednesday.
Since the beginning of the riots, six people diedincluding two national guard mobile units.
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Around 86 police officers and national guards were injuredFrench Minister of Local and Regional Authorities, Dominique Faure, said on Wednesday.
Of the 320 people detained by security forces, 269 were in police custody and 35 were released. In addition, the police issued 17 arrest warrants, Noumea prosecutor Yves Dupas also explained on Wednesday.
These riots, the most serious recorded in New Caledonia since the 1980s, were triggered by an electoral reform promoted by Paris, which changed the census, taking away the weight of indigenous peoples, which outraged the independence supporters.
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On May 15, the French National Assembly passed a bill that, among other changes, allows residents of New Caledonia to vote for ten years in provincial elections.
Opponents say the measure will benefit Pro-French politicians in New Caledoniaand will further marginalize the indigenous Kanak people, who were previously the target of a strict segregation policy.
Between 2018 and 2021, France held three referendums, in which the majority of voters chose to remain part of France rather than support independence. The Kanak people rejected the results of the last referendum, which they boycotted because it was held at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Source: Observadora
