The French president visits the Pacific territory, where electoral reform plans have fueled the worst unrest in more than 30 years.
French President Emmanuel Macron said French soldiers will remain in New Caledonia “as long as necessary” after more than a week of unrest sparked by French plans to change electoral rules in the Pacific island territory.
Macron arrived in New Caledonia’s capital Nouméa on Thursday amid ongoing protests against electoral reforms that the indigenous Kanak people say would dilute their vote and undermine their fight for independence.
The reforms would allow French people who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years or more to vote in New Caledonia’s provincial elections.
Around 3,000 soldiers have been sent from Paris since the violence began and could stay until the Paris Olympics, which begin on July 26, Macron said.
Six people, including three young Kanaks, have been killed and around 280 people have been arrested since protests erupted and a state of emergency was declared.
Macron observed a minute’s silence for the people killed and said that if roadblocks and barricades were removed he would oppose extending the state of emergency.
The French president also met with the pro-independence president of the Government of New Caledonia, Louis Mapou, and the president of Congress, Roch Wamytan, in a meeting at the residence of the French high commissioner in New Caledonia in Noumea on Thursday -fair.
Macron flew around 17,000 km (10,500 miles) from mainland France to reach Noumea and was expected to remain in New Caledonia for around 12 hours.
Protesters waving New Caledonian flags lined the streets as the French president’s convoy advanced along the newly reopened road linking the international airport with Noumea.
“I don’t know why our fate is being discussed by people who don’t even live here,” said Mike, a 52-year-old Kanak, at a roadblock north of the capital on the eve of Macron’s arrival.
Around 90 barricades erected by protesters were removed by heavily armed police and paramilitaries, but new barricades were still appearing the night before Macron arrived, according to the Reuters news agency.
Jimmy Naouna of Kanak and the Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) of New Caledonia said the pro-independence political party called on protesters to remove roadblocks and urged Macron to abandon the electoral reform plan.
“We hope that if [Macron] traveling to Kanaky, he will make a strong announcement that he is withdrawing this electoral bill, but if he is just coming here as a provocation, this could end badly,” Naouna said before the French president’s arrival, using the indigenous name of the island. .
The Kanaks represent around 40% of the just over 300,000 people who live in New Caledonia, which is located between Australia and Fiji, in the Pacific Ocean.
In 1998, France agreed to cede more political power to the territory and to limit voting in New Caledonia’s provincial and legislative elections to those who were residents of the island at the time, under the so-called Noumea Agreement.
Around 40,000 French citizens have moved to New Caledonia since 1998, and the changes expand the electoral roll to include those who have lived in the territory for 10 years.
The Noumea Agreement also included a series of three independence referendums, the last of which took place in December 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pro-independence groups boycotted the vote, which supported remaining in France, and rejected the result.
Last week, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told France 2 television that Azerbaijan, alongside China and Russia, were “interfering” in New Caledonia.
“I regret that some of Caledonia’s pro-independence leaders made a deal with Azerbaijan,” Darmanin said.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
