The special commission of the Congress of New Caledonia to renegotiate the “nickel pact” met for the first time on Monday April 22. It materializes the difficulty in reconciling political and social interests while negotiations on the institutional future are at a standstill and tensions are crystallizing around the thaw of the electorate.
In the entourage of President Louis Mapou, who requested authorization from Congress to sign the “nickel pact”, we refuse to make any comments. We barely explain the prudence of this initiative, to avoid giving the impression of forcing the hand of the deliberative assembly. Nickel is a sensitive subject and, after having regained jurisdiction with the Nouméa agreement, it was not until 2009 that the elected representatives of Congress managed to find a fragile balance with the adoption of the plan for the development of nickel. mineral resources.
The elected separatists who set up this commission, supported by the non-independence members of Caledonia together, intend to obtain answers to certain questions posed by the pact and to assert their vision on the subject. It also aims to avoid disavowing Louis Mapou, by refusing him to sign the pact, while giving itself time to ease the pressure.
Sovereignty
In a twenty-five page analysis, detailed during meetings organized in the four corners of “Caillou”, Ronald Frère, close to the president of the Caledonian Union (independence), presents the agreement as a “colonial pact to regain control of the raw materials of New Caledonia”. On the ground, anger is rising and materializing in mine blockades all over the country.
The organic law proposal aimed at temporarily restoring nickel competence to the State, tabled on March 26 by the deputy Nicolas Metzdorf (Renaissance), one of the non-independence leaders, is a breeding ground favoring the development of this idea. A real casus belli for the independence world which considers nickel as one of the main vectors of accession to full sovereignty.
“There is no withdrawal of sovereignty, none! We have to stop saying anything because afterwards, the activists on the ground say: “The State wants to steal our nickel.” It’s lunar »argued former Secretary of State Sonia Backès, leader of the loyalists and president of the Southern province. “The youth see that we come here to take and we have nothing. There is no rebalancing. The true meaning of the Bercy agreement is not real on the ground”, explained the spokesperson for a collective of young people behind blockades of mining sites in the Canala region. They particularly fear the prospect of a sharp increase in mining activity opened up by the pact.
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