(Updated at full length with speech by Emmanuel Macron)
PARIS, May 23 (Reuters) – President Emmanuel Macron tried on Thursday to ease tensions in New Caledonia, plagued by significant violence for more than a week due to a contested reform on the electoral body.
Pleading for a return “to order and calm as soon as possible”, the head of state assured that he would not force this reform decried by the separatists.
“I am committed to ensuring that this reform will not be implemented in force today in the current context. And that we will give ourselves a few weeks to allow for calm and the resumption of dialogue with a view to a global agreement,” declared Emmanuel Macron during a press conference at the end of a day on site where he met local elected officials, economic players and young Caledonians.
The president had previously planned to bring together Congress at the end of June at the latest to adopt a draft reform of the Constitution allowing the text to be integrated into the electorate, but the outbreak of violence, unprecedented in New Caledonia for 40 years, has took the executive by surprise.
In return for the delay granted on reform to Congress, Emmanuel Macron asked that all officials “explicitly” call for the lifting of the roadblocks, addressing in particular the FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front), main independence movement, and the CCAT (Field Action Coordination Cell) whose members are accused of being at the forefront of the violence.
“As soon as the withdrawals are effective and observed, the state of emergency will be lifted,” said the president, calling for political dialogue to “resume immediately”.
The Head of State indicated that he would make a “progress point within a month to take a conscientious look at things and make decisions on the institutional follow-up to be given”.
“I will obviously consider the return to calm but also the sincere commitment of the parties to the resumption of negotiations with a view to an agreement,” he said.
OVERALL AGREEMENT
The electorate in New Caledonia has remained frozen since the Nouméa agreement in 1998, which defined the political organization of the island in order to give it greater autonomy.
The agreement also provided for the holding of three self-determination referendums, which were organized respectively in 2018, 2020 and 2021 and which all saw the “no” to independence win.
“We followed a path that had been traced, however we did not collectively think enough about the day after,” admitted Emmanuel Macron.
“It is clear that today there is no common vision for the future. It is clear that rebalancing has not made it possible to reduce economic and social inequalities.”
The Head of State hoped that the negotiations between the New Caledonian stakeholders would result in a global agreement integrating several issues: the unfreezing of the electorate, the organization of powers, the distribution of seats, citizenship, the new social contract, the economic future, particularly around nickel, and the question of the self-determination vote, he listed.
Emmanuel Macron said he would like this agreement to be submitted to a vote by Caledonians, without specifying whether it will be a referendum.
“My desire is that this global agreement is the one that integrates our Constitution,” he added.
“COLOSSAL” DAMAGE
The violence in New Caledonia has left six dead, including two gendarmes, and caused significant destruction, while roadblocks continue to limit access to food and medicine.
The government deployed 3,000 internal security forces and mobilized members of the GIGN and RAID to ensure a return to order.
“Our objective is to take up all the points today which are still in disorder and violence,” said Emmanuel Macron.
The Head of State spoke of “colossal” damage in greater Nouméa and announced emergency aid for the economic world.
The president, who arrived at La Tontouta airport in Nouméa on Thursday around 8:30 a.m. (Wednesday 11:30 p.m. Paris time), went to the High Commission of the Republic then to the central police station in Nouméa where he spoken with members of the police.
Accompanied by Ministers of the Interior Gérald Darmanin and Ministers of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu, Emmanuel Macron then met a group of young Caledonians before speaking with non-independence elected officials and figures from the independence camp. (With contributions from Renju Jose and Kirsty Needham in Sydney, Bertrand Boucey, Dominique Vidalon, Michel Rose and Nicolas Delame in Paris; French version Camille Raynaud, Kate Entringer and Blandine Hénault, edited by Kate Entringer)
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