The executive finally reviews its strategy on New Caledonia. The state of emergency on the archipelago, affected by several days of riots, will be lifted on Tuesday at 5 a.m. in Nouméa (8 p.m. Monday in Paris), the Élysée announced on Sunday, which also indicated that 480 mobile gendarmes were going to arrive as reinforcements on site.
The lifting of these exceptional measures must “allow meetings of the different components of the FLNKS (main pro-independence component) and travel to the roadblocks of elected officials or officials able to call for their lifting,” explained the presidency.
A very precarious calm
However, the situation remains difficult on the spot, with the police still struggling to control certain districts of Greater Nouméa. And even if the night from Sunday to Monday was relatively calm, the international airport will remain closed to commercial flights at least until June 2.
The state of emergency was established on May 16 in Nouméa, after violence which has now left seven dead and the detonator of which was the adoption in Paris of a reform providing for the thawing of the local electoral body, it is that is to say its extension to people established for at least 10 years. Supporters of independence believe that this text risks “minoritizing” the indigenous Kanak people even more.
Despite still high tensions, “the President has decided for the moment not to renew the state of emergency. This will not be extended” beyond its legal deadline of 12 days, underlined the Elysée.
Removing roadblocks “necessary condition” for dialogue
The executive hopes that this loosening of restrictions will allow a re-establishment of dialogue on the numerous roadblocks still in place, targeting in particular the independence collective CCAT (Cellule for Coordination of Field Actions) which is at the forefront of the protest. The FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front) for its part on Saturday renewed “its call for calm” and asked to “loosen the grip on the main routes of circulation”.
Because the lifting of these roadblocks is “the necessary condition for the opening of concrete and serious negotiations”, recalled the presidency on Sunday, while Emmanuel Macron installed on Thursday, during his lightning visit to Nouméa, a dialogue mission composed of three senior officials who began to hold bilateral exchanges with stakeholders, pro-independence and non-independence groups. This mission “stands ready to work with elected officials to establish a global agreement” around the unfreezing of the electorate, insisted the presidency.
At the same time, the Elysée announced the dispatch “in the coming hours” of “7 additional mobile force units, or 480 mobile gendarmes”. In total, some 3,500 personnel are deployed on the archipelago where two gendarmes died during the riots.