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The unrest that has engulfed Kanaki-New Caledonia is a direct result of Emmanuel Macron’s partisan and persistent political maneuvers to derail the process of self-determination in my homeland.
The deadly riots that broke out two weeks ago in the capital Noumea were sparked by an electoral reform bill voted in the French National Assembly in Paris.
Almost forty years ago, Kanaki-New Caledonia made international headlines for similar reasons. Independence supporters and Kanak people have long called for a settlement of the colonial situation in Kanak-New Caledonia, once and for all.
Kanak people make up about 40% of the population in New Caledonia, which remains a French Pacific territory. The Canuck independence movement, the Canuck National and Socialist Liberation Front (FLNKS) and its allies have been challenging the controversial election bill since it was introduced in the French senate by the Macron government in April.
Relations between the French government and the FLNKS have been strained since Macron decided to go ahead with a third independence referendum in 2021. Despite calls from independence groups and Kanak people for it to be postponed due to the Covid pandemic and its high death toll.
FLNKS and supporters have since contested the political legitimacy of this referendum, as the majority of the indigenous and colonized population of Kanaky-New Caledonia did not take part in the vote.
Since the electoral reform bill was introduced in the French Senate in April this year, peaceful rallies, demonstrations, marches and sit-ins involving more than ten thousand people have been held in Noumea city center and around Kanaki-New Caledonia, but this has not stopped of the French government to push through the bill – despite clear signs that it would cause unrest and backlash on the ground.
The tension and loss of confidence in Macron’s government from pro-independence groups became more apparent when Sonia Bax, an anti-independence leader and president of the southern province, was appointed secretary of state for citizenship in July 2022, and after that and Nicholas Metzdorf, another anti-independence representative as rapporteur on the proposed Electoral Reform Bill. This made it clear that the French government was supporting loyalist parties in Kanaki-New Caledonia – and that the French state had moved out of its neutral position as a partner in the Noumea Agreement and a country to negotiate a new political settlement.
Then last week, President Macron made the unexpected decision to make an 18-hour visit to Kanaki-New Caledonia to ease tensions and resume talks with local parties to build a new political agreement. It was nothing more than a public relations exercise for his own political gain. Even within his own party, Macron lost support for passing the electoral reform bill through the Congress of Versailles [a joint session of parliament] and his handling of the situation in Kanaky-New Caledonia is being contested nationally by political groups, especially as the campaign for the upcoming European elections gathers pace.
After returning to Paris, Macron announced that he might consider putting electoral reform to a national referendum, as provided for in the French constitution; French citizens in France voted to support the Noumea agreement in 1998. For the FLNKS, this option will only put more pressure on the negotiations for a new political agreement.
The average French citizen in Paris is not fully aware of the decolonization process in Kanaki-New Caledonia and why the electoral roll is limited to Kanaki and “citizens” under the Noumea Agreement. They can simply vote yes based on democratic principles: one person, one vote. Still, others may vote “no” to sanction Macron’s policies and his treatment of Kanaki-New Caledonia.
Either way, the result of a national referendum on the proposed electoral reform bill – without local consensus – will only spark more protests and unrest in Kanaki-New Caledonia.
Following Macron’s visit, the FLNKS issued a statement reaffirming its call for the electoral reform process to be suspended or withdrawn. He also called for an independent high-level mission to be sent to Kanaky-New Caledonia to reduce tensions and provide a more conducive environment for the resumption of negotiations towards a new political agreement that sets out a firm and clear path to a new – and real – independence referendum for Kanaki-New Caledonia.
A peaceful future for all that hopefully will not fall on deaf ears again.
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