Macron against a “forceful passage” of the criticized reform… what to remember from the President’s visit to New Caledonia

Emmanuel Macron is in New Caledonia this Thursday, May 23. MAXPPP – LUDOVIC MARIN/POOL

Emmanuel Macron is this Thursday, May 23, 2024, in New Caledonia, where tensions persist more than a week after the start of the riots. The French president calls for a "return to peace" and the state of emergency is maintained.

Emmanuel Macron, following a series of meetings between loyalists and Caledonian separatists, promised this Thursday, April 23, 2024, not to pass "in force" the constitutional reform at the origin of violent riots in New Caledonia, giving the parties &amp ;quot;a few more weeks to negotiate" a global political agreement requiring above all a return to order in this French archipelago in the South Pacific.

Before taking the plane back to Paris, 17,000 km away, after a visit of a few hours, the French president seemed to procrastinate on the political question , but showed himself to be intractable on a necessary return of order in the archipelago.

"I am committed to ensuring that this reform (of the thawing of the electorate, editor's note) will not be implemented in force today", he declared during a press briefing.

We need to "we give ourselves a few weeks to allow for appeasement, the resumption of dialogue with a view to a global agreement&quot ; on the institutional future of the archipelago, which is broader than the question of the electorate, he added.

A constitutional revision provides that elections, currently reserved for natives and residents who arrived before 1998 (Nouméa agreement) and their descendants, are open to people with at least ten years of residence in New Caledonia .

The freezing of the electorate for more than 25 years has excluded nearly one in five voters from elections. The separatists are, however, attached to it, fearing that the thaw will “minorize the indigenous Kanak people even more”.

On the archipelago, French since the 19th century, the Kanak, the indigenous Melanesian population of the island, form the main community (more than 41% of the population).

Referendum

This reform, to be adopted, must still be approved by the Congress in Versailles. The French president is committed to providing a progress update "within a month", thus seeming to delay a definitive vote on electoral reform, provided however that order is restored in this former French colony, which today has the status of a territory of the Republic.

Emmanuel Macron thus seems to soften his position somewhat on this issue. "My wish is that this agreement can be submitted to the vote of the Caledonians" by referendum, he added.

The Head of State has once again shown himself intransigent on the return to order in the archipelago, demanding a lifting of the blockades "in the coming hours" to end the state of emergency.

The riots have caused, since May 13, the death of six people, including two mobile gendarmes, as well as the destruction and looting of numerous buildings and businesses.

This "insurrection movement is absolutely unprecedented", "no one saw it coming with this level of& rsquo;organization and violence", judged, in the morning in Nouméa, the President of the Republic during a visit to a police station in the center of Nouméa.< /p>

He promised "emergency aid" to repair the "colossal" damage caused by the rioters. His statements come after a series of meetings with local political forces.

At nightfall, Emmanuel Macron first received the non-independence activists, including Sonia Backès, leader of the radical branch of the loyalists, and Philippe Dunoyer, figure of Calédonie Ensemble.

Then he spoke with all the components of the parties favorable to independence. Under house arrest, Christian Tein, member of the UC and leader of the CCAT, the independence collective which is organizing the protest, was also present.

At the security level, the president assured that the approximately 3,000 members of the security forces deployed "will stay as long as necessary, even during the Games Olympic and Paralympic Games" in Paris organized from the end of July to the beginning of September.

Precarious calm

The Head of State was accompanied by three senior officials who will be responsible for renewing dialogue with separatists and non-separatists.

In total, 281 people have been taken into custody since May 12, the overwhelming majority for crimes against property, according to a judicial source.

The return to calm remains precarious. In the popular district of Montravel, mainly populated by the Kanak and Oceanian communities, groups of young people were walking around with their faces masked, carrying slingshots made of odds and ends, noted an AFP journalist.

On the road that connects Dumbéa, north of the capital, numerous filter dams and the remains of burned cars continue to chop up traffic. In Greater Nouméa, these dams were even reinforced during the night.

"The text (reform of the electoral body, Editor's note) for us, it no longer exists since there are deaths, this is no longer even a subject of discussion", Lélé, a 41-year-old pro-independence mother, explains to AFP.

A return to normal life has begun in the center of Nouméa, patrolled by a strong police presence, where many stores have reopened their doors.

To add to the instability, the archipelago was also targeted by a cyberattack "of unprecedented strength& quot; aimed at "saturating the Caledonian network", but which was stopped, announced Christopher Gygès, member of the Caledonian collegial government.