by Kirsty Needham
SYDNEY/PARIS (Reuters) – President Emmanuel Macron arrived in New Caledonia on Thursday morning (late Wednesday evening in mainland France) for a visit intended to ease tensions in the French Pacific archipelago, plagued by significant violence for more than a week.
New Caledonia is shaken by unrest linked to a constitutional reform project, contested by Kanak separatists, which aims to extend the electoral body to people residing for ten years in the archipelago, which has remained frozen since the Noumea Agreement of 1998.
The violence left six dead and caused significant destruction, while roadblocks continue to limit access to food and medicine.
The Head of State arrived at La Tontouta airport in Nouméa on Thursday around 8:30 a.m. (Wednesday 11:30 p.m. Paris time).
He then went to the High Commission of the Republic where he observed a minute of silence in memory of the people who died in the violence.
“It is truly with a constructive spirit, of dialogue, of appeasement that I am here before you. But also with the responsibility that is mine and therefore that of trying to build this path within a framework that we know, that the people have chosen”, said the president in his introductory remarks to elected officials and local economic players.
Emmanuel Macron indicated that the 3,000 internal security forces deployed on the island would remain there “as long as necessary, even during the Olympic and Paralympic Games” and that “new massive operations will be planned wherever necessary”.
The head of state also called for the responsibility of the leaders present.
“We are in a state of emergency. The situation justified it. For my part, I think that this state of emergency should not be extended because, as I told you, I deeply believe that dialogue is necessary,” he said.
“But I call on the responsibility of all the leaders who are here present, (the state of emergency) will only be lifted if everyone, in their responsibility, calls for the roadblocks to be lifted.”
“HOLD”
The head of state then went to the central police station in Nouméa where he spoke with members of the police and paid tribute to the two gendarmes killed since the start of the riots.
“We must hold on,” Emmanuel Macron told them, according to whom no one had seen this “unprecedented insurrection movement” coming. “We have points that are difficult to take up but they will be taken up. There is no appeasement as long as there is this violence.”
Accompanied by the Ministers of the Interior Gérald Darmanin and the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu, the president then met a group of young New Caledonians who regretted the failure of the discussions between elected officials.
“The third referendum created frustration. We are at the end of a process. We must return to a path for the future,” urged Emmanuel Macron.
As night fell in New Caledonia, the president met with elected non-independence members of political groups in Congress and was now speaking with the separatists.
THE RETURN TO PEACE, A PRIORITY
Emmanuel Macron had indicated when he got off the plane that “the return to peace, calm, security” was “the priority of priorities”.
“I come here, with determination in any case, to do everything so that we have a return to calm, also with a lot of respect, humility and in a context also that we know by having a thought (…) for the victims,” the head of state then told the press.
In his opening remarks, Emmanuel Macron called for “constructive” appeasement.
“Appeasement cannot be a step backwards. Appeasement cannot be a matter of not respecting the popular expression that has already been played out. Appeasement cannot be a matter of somehow denying a path that has already been done,” he said.
“Nevertheless, we must bring all stakeholders back to the table,” the president said before the debates opened behind closed doors.
After the discussions, the senator from New Caledonia Georges Naturel considered it necessary “to broaden the spectrum of people who discuss”, in particular to the economic world and to mayors “who have always been sidelined from these discussions”.
(With the contribution of Renju Jose in Sydney, Bertrand Boucey, Dominique Vidalon and Michel Rose in Paris; French version Camille Raynaud and Kate Entringer)
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