radiofree.asia

Category: military

  • Jimmy Naouna: Macron’s handling of Kanaky New Caledonia isn’t working – we need a new way

    COMMENTARY: By Jimmy Naouna in Nouméa

    The unrest that has gripped Kanaky New Caledonia is the direct result of French President Emmanuel Macron’s partisan and stubborn political manoeuvring to derail the process towards self-determination in my homeland.

    The deadly riots that erupted two weeks ago in the capital, Nouméa, were sparked by an electoral reform bill voted through in the French National Assembly, in Paris.

    Almost 40 years ago, Kanaky New Caledonia made international headlines for similar reasons. The pro-independence and Kanak people have long been calling to settle the colonial situation in Kanaky New Caledonia, once and for all.

    FLNKS Political Bureau member Jimmy Naouna . . . The pro-independence groups and the Kanak people called for the third independence referendum to be deferred due to the covid pandemic and its high death toll. Image: @JNaouna

    Kanak people make up about 40 percent of the population in New Caledonia, which remains a French territory in the Pacific.

    The Kanak independence movement, the Kanak National and Socialist Liberation Front (FLNKS), and its allies have been contesting the controversial electoral 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 tense since Macron decided to push ahead with the third independence referendum in 2021. Despite the call by pro-independence groups and the Kanak people for it to be deferred due to the covid pandemic and its high death toll.

    Ever since, the FLNKS and supporters have contested the political legitimacy of that referendum because the majority of the indigenous and colonised people of Kanaky New Caledonia did not take part in the vote.

    Peaceful rallies
    Since the electoral reform bill was introduced in the French Senate in April this year, peaceful rallies, demonstrations, marches and sit-ins gathering more than 10,000 people have been held in the city centre of Nouméa and around Kanaky New Caledonia.

    But that did not stop the French government pushing ahead with the bill — despite clear signs that it would trigger unrest and violent reactions on the ground.

    The tensions and loss of trust in the Macron government by pro-independence groups became more evident when Sonia Backés, an anti-independence leader and president of the Southern province, was appointed as State Secretary in charge of Citizenship in July 2022 and then Nicolas Metzdorf, another anti-independence representative as rapporteur on the proposed electoral reform bill.

    This clearly showed the French government was supporting loyalist parties in Kanaky New Caledonia — and that the French State had stepped out of its neutral position as a partner to the Nouméa Accord, and a party to negotiate toward a new political agreement.

    Then last late last month, President Macron made the out-of-the blue decision to pay an 18 hour visit to Kanaky New Caledonia, to ease tensions and resume talks with local parties to build a new political agreement.

    It was no more than a public relations exercise for his own political gain. Even within his own party, Macron has lost support to take the electoral reform bill through the Congrès de Versailles (a joint session of Parliament) and his handling of the situation in Kanaky New Caledonia is being contested at a national level by political groups, especially as campaigning for the upcoming European elections gathers pace.

    Once back in Paris, Macron announced he may consider putting the electoral reform to a national referendum, as provided for under the French constitution; French citizens in France voted to endorse the Nouméa Accord in 1998.

    More pressure on talks
    For the FLNKS, this option will only put more pressure on the talks for a new political agreement.

    The average French citizen in Paris is not fully aware of the decolonisation process in Kanaky New Caledonia and why the electoral roll has been restricted to Kanaks and “citizens”, as per the Nouméa Accord. They may just vote “yes” on the basis of democratic principles: one man, one vote.

    Yet others may vote “no” as to sanction against Macron’s policies and his handling of Kanaky New Caledonia.

    Either way, the outcome of a national referendum on the proposed electoral reform bill — without a local consensus — would only trigger more protest and unrest in Kanaky New Caledonia.

    After Macron’s visit, the FLNKS issued a statement reaffirming its call for the electoral reform process to be suspended or withdrawn.

    It also called for a high-level independent mission to be sent into Kanaky New Caledonia to ease tensions and ensure a more conducive environment for talks to resume towards a new political agreement that sets a definite and clear pathway towards a new — and genuine — referendum on independence for Kanaky New Caledonia.

    A peaceful future for all that hopefully will not fall on deaf ears again.

    Jimmy Naouna is a member of Kanaky New Caledonia’s pro-independence FLNKS Political Bureau. This article was first published by The Guardian and is republished here with the permission of the author.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • France sends armoured vehicles with machine gun capability to New Caledonia

    By Margot Staunton, RNZ Pacific senior journalist

    Police in New Caledonia have a new weapon in their arsenal — state of the art armoured vehicles with machine guns, flown in from France to take control of the law and order situation following the violent unrest.

    The state of emergency was lifted in the territory last Tuesday but a security force of more than 3000 could remain until after the Paris Olympics.

    Minister of the Interior and Overseas Territories Gérald Darmanin said via social media platform X that the vehicles, known as Centaur, can also fire tear gas.

    “These armoured vehicles will help the police put an end to all roadblocks and completely re-establish public order in the archipelago,” Darmanin said.

    “In the event of more serious threats, such as a terrorist attack, which would involve the use of armed force, the Centaur may be equipped with a 7.62 remotely operated machine gun.”

    He said the off-road vehicles can carry up to 10 people and fire tear gas from a turret to disperse violent individuals or keep them at bay.

    A journalist on the ground, Coralie Cochin, told RNZ Pacific things are far from calm in the suburbs, despite official reports that law and order was being restored on the outskirts of Nouméa.

    “The police fought with protesters who had just erected a roadblock and set fire to it in my street today,” Cochin said, who lives in the northern suburb of Dubea.

    “People fear for their houses. I have got friends who had to escape from their burning properties who have been left with nothing.”

    She said people were divided over whether the Centaur will change anything.

    “The Kanak people are afraid, they are wondering why the police have machine guns when all they have to fight with is stones,” Cochin said.

    Others believe the Centaur is essential to crush roadblocks and protect property but attempts to eradicate them completely are so far proving futile.

    “As soon as they are removed, pro-independence protesters put them back up again. It’s like a game of cat and mouse,” she said.

    France has also decided to go ahead with the European elections in New Caledonia on Sunday, despite political tensions in the territory.

    High Commissioner Louis Le France said in a statement that voting material had arrived and preparations were under way to transport it to polling stations.

    Le France said a curfew would remain in place from 6pm to 6am until the day after the elections, as well as a ban on the sale of guns and alcohol.

    He said Nouméa’s international airport would remain closed until further notice, while the situation was “normalised”.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    Coralie Cochin, told RNZ Pacific things are far from calm in the suburbs, despite official reports that law and order is being restored on the outskirts of Nouméa.
    A burning brush protest barricade in Nouméa . . . situation far from calm in the suburbs, despite official reports that law and order is being restored. Image: Coralie Cochin/RNZ

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • South Korea to suspend inter-Korean military pact over trash balloons

    South Korea decided on Monday to suspend a 2018 inter-Korean tension reduction pact until “mutual trust is restored” in a response to North Korea’s sending of nearly 1,000 trash-filled balloons to the South. 

    The 9/19 Comprehensive Military Agreement, signed on Sept. 19, 2018, aimed at defusing tension and avoiding war, was implemented after a meeting between South Korea’s then-president Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

    The presidential National Security Council held a meeting to evaluate North Korea’s recent behavior and agreed to propose a motion suspending the agreement at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

    “The attendees decided to submit a proposal to suspend the entire effectiveness of the September 19 Military Agreement until mutual trust between the two Koreas is restored,” the presidential office said in a release. 

    North Korea has sent waves of trash-filled balloons into the South since Thursday in what it said was a tit-for-tat campaign against South Korean activists sending balloons carrying propaganda material denouncing the North’s regime.

    South Korea’s National Security Adviser Chang Ho-jin said on Sunday the government would take “unbearable” measures against the North in response to its balloons and its jamming of GPS signals last week. 

    The anger over the balloons has raised speculation that South Korea might resume propaganda campaigns via loudspeakers along the border. The loudspeakers used to air criticism of the Kim Jong Un regime’s human rights abuses, as well as news and K-pop songs, to the fury of the North.

    To resume the front-line broadcasts, it would be necessary to nullify the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement.

    Hours after South Korea’s warning, North Korea said it would suspend its cross-border balloon campaign, though it also threatened to resume it if anti-Pyongyang leaflets were sent from South Korea.

    The North said its balloon campaign was launched purely in response to leaflets sent by South Korean activists.

    Fighters for a Free North Korea, a Seoul-based organization that floated anti-Pyongyang balloons over the North last month, said on Monday that it would consider stopping sending leaflets only if the North apologized for sending its trash-bearing balloons to the South. 

    “We send facts, loves, medications, one-dollar bills, dramas and trot music to the North, but how come they send us waste and trash?” the organization said in a statement, referring to a type of Korean music. 

    “North Korea leader Kim Jong Un should immediately apologize.”

    Edited by Mike Firn.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Taejun Kang for RFA.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • PNG’s police and defence force close ranks to foil ‘opportunist crimes’

    PNG Post-Courier

    Papua New Guinea’s Police Commissioner David Manning has commended the coordinated efforts between police and defence intelligence units in the lead up to and during the current sitting of Parliament.

    Commissioner Manning said claims made over the past five months, particularly on social media, had led to heightened public awareness of safety during significant national events, and the nation’s disciplined forces were working together to ensure security.

    “The RPNGC [Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary] and the PNGDF [PNG Defence Force] are working closely to collate and share information on potential criminal activities that might be instigated while Parliament is in session during May and June,” Commissioner Manning said.

    “This includes ongoing cooperation between RPNGC specialist units and the PNGDF Long Range Reconnaissance Unit in the analysis of information of law-and-order significance.

    “Respecting legislative and constitutional compliance, this engagement in providing for enhanced public safety and security as the nation’s leaders debate matters of policy.

    “Ongoing co-operation between police and military units further sends a very clear message to opportunists thinking they can get away with crimes with the misconception that police are distracted during this period.

    “These measures, as approved by the National Executive Council and the Governor-General, have served the country well in the lead-up to and during the current sitting of Parliament.”

    Collaborative approach
    Commissioner Manning said he had briefed NEC on the importance of ensuring a collaborative approach to criminal intelligence to ensure that PNG communities remained safe and secure during events of national significance.

    The collaborative approach, approved by NEC, was enabled by the continuing callout of the Defence Force by the Head of State.

    “The collaboration of security forces, particularly when it comes to criminal intelligence, supports a secure environment for the democratic process and to protect the community and businesses,” Commissioner Manning said.

    “It is essential that while matters of national importance are taking place, be these Parliament sittings, high level visits or even protests, that people can go about their normal business without hindrance.”

    Commissioner Manning said the job of the police force was to preserve peace and good order in the country so that PNG communities could go about their daily lives.

    “We remain focused on delivering upon this job,” he said.

    Republished from the PNG Post-Courier with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Open letter by Gaza academics: ‘Help us resist Israel’s scholasticide’

    OPEN LETTER: Gaza academics and administrators

    We have come together as Palestinian academics and staff of Gaza universities to affirm our existence, the existence of our colleagues and our students, and the insistence on our future, in the face of all current attempts to erase us.

    The Israeli occupation forces have demolished our buildings but our universities live on. We reaffirm our collective determination to remain on our land and to resume teaching, study, and research in Gaza, at our own Palestinian universities, at the earliest opportunity.

    We call upon our friends and colleagues around the world to resist the ongoing campaign of scholasticide in occupied Palestine, to work alongside us in rebuilding our demolished universities, and to refuse all plans seeking to bypass, erase, or weaken the integrity of our academic institutions.

    The future of our young people in Gaza depends upon us, and our ability to remain on our land in order to continue to serve the coming generations of our people.

    We issue this call from beneath the bombs of the occupation forces across occupied Gaza, in the refugee camps of Rafah, and from the sites of temporary new exile in Egypt and other host countries.

    We are disseminating it as the Israeli occupation continues to wage its genocidal campaign against our people daily, in its attempt to eliminate every aspect of our collective and individual life.

    Our families, colleagues, and students are being assassinated, while we have once again been rendered homeless, reliving the experiences of our parents and grandparents during the massacres and mass expulsions by Zionist armed forces in 1947 and 1948.

    Our infrastructure is in ruins
    Our civic infrastructure — universities, schools, hospitals, libraries, museums and cultural centres — built by generations of our people, lies in ruins from this deliberate continuous Nakba. The deliberate targeting of our educational infrastructure is a blatant attempt to render Gaza uninhabitable and erode the intellectual and cultural fabric of our society.

    However, we refuse to allow such acts to extinguish the flame of knowledge and resilience that burns within us.

    Allies of the Israeli occupation in the United States and United Kingdom are opening yet another scholasticide front through promoting alleged reconstruction schemes that seek to eliminate the possibility of independent Palestinian educational life in Gaza. We reject all such schemes and urge our colleagues to refuse any complicity in them.

    We also urge all universities and colleagues worldwide to coordinate any academic aid efforts directly with our universities.

    We extend our heartfelt appreciation to the national and international institutions that have stood in solidarity with us, providing support and assistance during these challenging times. However, we stress the importance of coordinating these efforts to effectively reopen Palestinian universities in Gaza.

    We emphasise the urgent need to reoperate Gaza’s education institutions, not merely to support current students, but to ensure the long-term resilience and sustainability of our higher education system.

    Education is not just a means of imparting knowledge; it is a vital pillar of our existence and a beacon of hope for the Palestinian people.

    Long-term strategy essential
    Accordingly, it is essential to formulate a long-term strategy for rehabilitating the infrastructure and rebuilding the entire facilities of the universities. However, such endeavours require considerable time and substantial funding, posing a risk to the ability of academic institutions to sustain operations, potentially leading to the loss of staff, students, and the capacity to reoperate.

    Given the current circumstances, it is imperative to swiftly transition to online teaching to mitigate the disruption caused by the destruction of physical infrastructure. This transition necessitates comprehensive support to cover operational costs, including the salaries of academic staff.

    Student fees, the main source of income for universities, have collapsed since the start of the genocide. The lack of income has left staff without salaries, pushing many of them to search for external opportunities.

    Beyond striking at the livelihoods of university faculty and staff, this financial strain caused by the deliberate campaign of scholasticide poses an existential threat to the future of the universities themselves.

    Thus, urgent measures must be taken to address the financial crisis now faced by academic institutions, to ensure their very survival. We call upon all concerned parties to immediately coordinate their efforts in support of this critical objective.

    The rebuilding of Gaza’s academic institutions is not just a matter of education; it is a testament to our resilience, determination, and unwavering commitment to securing a future for generations to come.

    The fate of higher education in Gaza belongs to the universities in Gaza, their faculty, staff, and students and to the Palestinian people as a whole. We appreciate the efforts of peoples and citizens around the world to bring an end to this ongoing genocide.

    We call upon our colleagues in the homeland and internationally to support our steadfast attempts to defend and preserve our universities for the sake of the future of our people, and our ability to remain on our Palestinian land in Gaza.

    We built these universities from tents. And from tents, with the support of our friends, we will rebuild them once again.

    This open letter by the university academics and administrators of Gaza to the world was first published by Al Jazeera. The full list of signatories is here.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • NZ foreign minister Peters calls for ‘calm wise heads’ in New Caledonia crisis

    RNZ Pacific

    New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters says “calm wise heads” are needed to sort out the crisis in New Caledonia.

    A security force of more than 3000 personnel — more than half of them flown in from France — have returned to the capital Nouméa of the French territory to restore a sense of normalcy.

    It comes after weeks of deadly unrest during which seven people were shot and killed, and others causing more than 200 million euros (NZ$353m) in damage.

    But protests continue in the outskirts of Nouméa against the French government’s move to change New Caledonia’s electoral laws which pro-independent indigenous groups fear will dilute their political power.

    Pacific Islands Forum chair Mark Brown wrote to the New Caledonia president to offer support, while Vanuatu’s climate minister Ralph Regenvanu blamed France for the crisis.

    Speaking earlier this week as the final evacuation flight for New Zealand citizens and other nationals was about to depart from Nouméa, Peters would not be drawn on New Zealand’s position on Kanak aspirations for decolonisation.

    “We think it’s wise for us to join with the Pacific Islands Forum, and have a statement we all agree to, rather than [New Zealand] … speaking out of turn,” Winston Peters said.

    Long-term future
    Peters said this was especially prudent given the views some members of the forum had been expressing in regard to New Caledonia’s long-term future.

    “It’s not being reluctant to say something. But when you’re dealing with a major crisis of law and order and the destruction of property and businesses which will cost hundreds of millions of dollars to fix up, we need to keep our mind on that,” he said.

    “And then, when we’ve got that under control, look at the long-term pathway forward to a peaceful solution. In the end, you would expect there to be agreed self-determination.”

    From May 21-28, seven New Zealand flights helped to evacuate 225 New Zealanders and 145 foreign nationals from New Caledonia.

    Peters paid tribute to the hardworking teams behind the joint NZ Defence Force and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) operation which made the assistance possible.

    Commercial flights into and out of New Caledonia remain closed until Sunday, June 2, and a nightly curfew is still in effect.

    On Wednesday, New Caledonia’s public prosecutor confirmed three Nouméa municipal police officers were facing criminal charges after they were found to have engaged in acts of severe violence against a Kanak man they had just arrested.

    The municipal police officers are not part or the French security forces that have been sent to restore law and order in New Caledonia, RNZ Pacific understands.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Three Nouméa police officers face prosecution after viral violent video

    By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk

    Three Nouméa municipal policemen are now facing a prosecution after a disturbing video was posted in a Facebook neighbourhood watch group, allegedly implicating them in acts of severe violence against a Kanak man they had just arrested.

    The municipal police officers are not part of the French security forces that have been sent to restore law and order, RNZ Pacific understands.

    Initial investigations established that the violence took place on at 6th Kilometre, on the night of May 25-26, and that it “followed the arrest of several persons suspected of a theft attempt”, Nouméa Public Prosecutor Yves Dupas said in a statement yesterday.

    The incident was captured in a brief video, later posted on social networks, being shared hundreds of times and going viral.

    “It is the management of municipal police themselves who have signalled this to us”, Dupas said.

    The Public Prosecutor’s Office said it had verified the authenticity of the short footage which depicted a “representative of the security forces striking a violent foot kick to the head of a person sitting on the ground after he was arrested”.

    On the same video, the other two officers, all equipped with riot gear, are seen to be standing by, surrounding the victim.

    Dupas said a formal inquiry was now underway against the three municipal police officers who were now facing charges of “violence from a person entrusted with public authority and failure to assist a person in peril”.

    “This case will be treated with every expected severity, being related to presumed facts of illegitimate violence on the part of officers entrusted with a mission of administrative and judicial police”, the statement said.

    It added that “this is the first case being treated for this type of act since the beginning of civil unrest in New Caledonia” and further stressed that law enforcement agencies deployed on the ground have displayed “professionalism” in the “difficult management of the law enforcement operations carried out”.

    “The victim remains to be approached by investigators in order to undergo medical examination and assess his current health condition.”

    TikTok ban lifted
    New Caledonia has also now lifted a ban on TikTok imposed earlier this month in response to grave civil unrest and rioting.

    The announcement was made as part of the French High Commissioner Louis Le Franc during his daily update on the situation.

    “As a follow-up to the end of the state of emergency since Tuesday, 28 May, 2024, the ban on the platform TikTok has been lifted,” a statement said.

    The ban was announced on May 15 in what was then described as an attempt to block contacts between rioting groups in the French Pacific territory.

    It had since then been widely contested as a breach of human rights.

    Doubts had also been expressed on how effective the measure could have been, with other platforms (such as Facebook, WhatsApp or Viber) remaining accessible and the fact that the ban on Tiktok could be easily dodged with VPN tools.

    Christian Karembeu speaking to Europe 1 on Monday 27 May 2024 - Photo screenshot Europe1.fr
    Christian Karembeu speaking to Europe 1 on Monday . . .. Photo: Screenshot/Europe1.fr

    World Cup 1998 winner Karembeu ‘in mourning’
    Earlier this week, former footballer and 1998 World Cup champion Christian Karembeu made a surprise revelation saying two members of his family had been shot dead during the riots.

    Speaking to French radio Europe 1 on Monday, Karembeu said: “I have lost members of my family, that’s why I remained silent (until now), because I am in mourning.”

    “Two members of my family have been shot with a bullet in the head. These are snipers. The word is strong but they have been assassinated and we hope investigations will be made on these murders”, the Kanak footballer said, adding the victims were his nephew and his niece.

    Karembeu’s career involves 53 tests for the French national football team, one world cup victory (1998), playing for prestigious European clubs such as Nantes, Sampdoria, and Real Madrid (where he won two Champions League titles), Olympiakos, Servette, and Bastia.

    He is now a strategic advisor and ambassador for Greek club Olympiakos.

    Reacting to Karembeu’s announcements, Chief Prosecutor Dupas told public broadcaster NC la Première on Tuesday he believed Karembeu was referring to the two Kanak people who were killed earlier this month in Nouméa’s industrial zone of Ducos.

    “I do not know what his family kinship relation is with those two victims who were assassinated in Ducos,” he said.

    “But concerning these facts, an investigation is underway, it has gotten pretty far already, one (European) company manager has been arrested and remains in custody. The Justice is processing all the facts, crimes, committed.”

    “We have, among the civilian victims, four persons of the Kanak community and it is a possibility that some of those could be related to Christian Karembeu”, he said.

    Asked on a possibly higher number of fatalities, he stressed the death toll so far remained at seven.

    “We have not received any other complaint regarding people shooting civilians”, he maintained, while encouraging members of the public who would be aware of other fatal incidents to come forward and contact his office.

    Targeted by civilian gunmen
    However, on Tuesday, La Première TV reported that unidentified Kanak people spoke out to say that they were directly targeted by gunshots on May 15 while they were at a roadblock held by alleged members of armed militia groups in Nouméa’s industrial zone of Ducos.

    “We arrived in our car, I saw the roadblock, I barely had time to reverse and go back and they started to shoot. About 10 times,” the unidentified witness said, showing two bullet holes on his car.

    “I have lodged a complaint for murder attempt and now the investigation is ongoing,” he said.

    Two other Kanaks said the following day, on May 16, while in the streets of their neighbourhood, they were shot at by balaclava-clad passengers of two driving by pick-up trucks.

    “We started to run and that’s when we heard the first gunshots. My little brother managed to take shelter at a neighbour’s home, and I went on running with the 4WD behind me. When I arrived at my family’s home, I jumped into the garden and that’s when I heard a second gunshot”, he told La Première.

    “We never thought this would happen to us”.

    Dupas said another, wider investigation, was underway since May 17 in order to identify “those who are pulling the ropes and who led the “planning and committing of attacks that have hit New Caledonia”.

    “This means anyone, whatever his/her level of implication, whether order-givers or just actors”.

    Latest update
    The state of emergency was lifted on Tuesday in New Caledonia following an announcement from French President Emmanuel Macron, who was in New Caledonia on a 17-hour visit last Thursday.

    The end of the state of emergency was described by Macron as being part of the “commitments” he made while meeting representatives of New Caledonia’s pro-independence movement last week and to allow leaders to spread the message to people to lift roadblocks and barricades and “loosen the grip”.

    However, a dusk-to-dawn (6pm to 6am) curfew remains in place, including a ban on public meetings, the sale of alcohol and the possession and transportation of firearms and ammunition, French High Commissioner Louis Le France said yesterday.

    An estimated 3500 security forces (police, gendarmes and special riot squads) remain on the ground.

    Taxis have announced they were now resuming service, but bus services remain closed because “too many roads remain impracticable”.

    High Commissioner Le Franc said that since the unrest began on May 13, a total of 535 people had been arrested, 136 security forces (police and gendarmes) had been injured and the death toll remained at seven (including two gendarmes, four indigenous Kanaks and one person of European ascent).

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Footage of French forces officer kicking Kanak man in head surfaces online

    By Kelvin Anthony, RNZ Pacific digital lead, and Margot Staunton, RNZ journalist

    Police brutality will further escalate tensions between pro-independence activists and French security forces in New Caledonia, a senior church leader in Nouméa says.

    On Tuesday night, video footage which shows a French security officer, who appears to have apprehended a Kanaky activist, then pushed the handcuffed man to the ground, before kicking him in the head and knocking him out.

    The clip — shared on a Nouméa neighbourhood watch Facebook group — is being widely circulated online and has been shared almost 400 times (as on Wednesday 3pm NZT).

    According to sources, the incident occurred at the Six Kilometre district in Nouméa.

    They are concerned it is due to actions like this that Paris has banned TikTok in New Caledonia so human rights abuses by the French security are not exposed.

    RNZ Pacific has contacted the French High Commissioner’s office and the French Ambassador to the Pacific for comment, seeking their response to this footage.

    Reverend Billy Wetewea from the Protestant Church of Kanaky New Caledonia told RNZ Pacific the police action was “not helping to bring calmness to the people on the ground”.

    “Like this kind of action from the police is not helping in our people to not go into violence against [sic],” he said.

    Reverend Watewea said the Kanak people on the ground had been advised to record all the movements of the security forces.

    “Especially when police forces are starting to attack [indigenous pro-independence Kanaks].”

    He said the footage that surfaced on Tuesday night was “not the first” such incident.

    “Some other situations in videos has been recorded as well. The people in responsibility will take those issues to the court because that’s not acceptable coming from police to have this kind of behaviour.”

    The death toll during two weeks of violent and destructive riots in New Caledonia has risen to seven.

    The French Ambassador to the Pacific, Veronique Roger-Lacan, said 134 police officers had been injured and nearly 500 people had been arrested.

    The state of emergency in the territory was lifted on Tuesday.

    Roger-Lachan said that while the state of emergency had been lifted, the ban on gatherings, the sale and transport of guns and alcohol, as well as the curfew, remained in place.

    French mobile police patrol the turbulent streets of Nouméa
    French mobile police patrol the turbulent streets of Nouméa in the wake of the riots earlier this month. Image: French govt screenshot/APR

    Resistance will continue
    A Kanak pro-independence activist Jimmy Naouna predicts police brutality and riots will continue as long as New Caledonia is highly militarised.

    A security force of 3000 remains in Nouméa with a further 484 on the way.

    The economic cost as a result of the unrest is estimated to be almost 1 billion euros (US$1.8 billion).

    Pro-independence alliance FLNKS member Naouna told RNZ Pacific the territory needed a political solution, not a military one.

    “They keep sending in more troops but that won’t solve the issue,” he said.

    “This is a political issue and it needs a political solution. The more you have the military and the police on the ground, the more violence there will be on both sides,” he said.

    ‘People want to be heard’
    Wetewea told RNZ Pacific while the presence of the French army on the streets has eased tensions, the decisions made at the political level in Paris are not helping to calm the people on the ground.

    He said the French President Emmanuel Macron is not listening to the indigenous people’s voices and the indigenous people have “had enough”.

    “For the people on the ground, they have had enough,” he said.

    “They want change. People want to be heard, people on the ground, people who are suffering in their houses. And we are facing now a situation that will be hard to recover from.”

    Naouna said Macron’s visit to the territory was merely a “political manoeuvre”.

    He said the pro-independence groups were expecting the French President to abate tensions by suspending and withdrawing the electoral reform bill.

    “[Macron] is losing support in his own political groups. In France, coming up in June. He is losing support for the European elections.

    “So, it is mainly for his own political gains that he has had to come to New Caledonia.”

    Wetewea said there was a realisation in New Caledonia that the events were led by indigenous young people in the city who have been denied opportunities and discriminated against.

    “That is the the part of the population that France was not taking care of for a long time, the part of the population that faced discrimination every day in schools, in seeking employment.

    He said the young people expressed all of these frustration towards a system that did not acknowledge them.

    “But looking more largely against the system that does not really incorporate or acknowledge our the Kanak people and their culture.”

    ‘Stifling free speech’
    Asia Pacific Report editor and Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN) deputy chair Dr David Robie deplored what he called the “the French tactics of reverting back to the brutality of the crackdowns during the 1980s”.

    “It’s no wonder the French authorities were quick to ban TikTok, trying unsuccessfully to stifle free debate and hide the brutality,” he said in response to the disturbing footage.

    He said there was a need for dialogue and a genuine attempt to hear Kanak aspirations, and public goodwill, in a bid to reach a consensus for the future.

    “If there had been more listening than talking by Paris and its ministers over the past three years, this crisis could have been avoided. But repression now will only backfire.

    “The 1980s ended in the terrible Ouvéa massacre. Surely some lessons have been learnt from history? Independence is inevitable in the long run.”

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Palestine solidarity group condemns ‘colonial violence’ in Rafah, Kanaky

    Asia Pacific Report

    A New Zealand solidarity group for Palestine with a focus on settler colonialism has condemned the latest atrocities by the Israeli military in its attack on Rafah — in defiance of the International Court of Justice order last Friday to halt the assault — and also French brutality in Kanaky New Caledonia.

    In its statement, Justice for Palestine (J4Pal) said that Monday had been “a day of unconscionable and unforgivable violence” against the people of Rafah.

    As global condemnation over the attack on displaced Palestinians in a tent camp and the UN Security Council convened an emergency meeting on the ground invasion, a new atrocity was reported yesterday.

    Israeli forces shelled a tent camp in a designated “safe zone” west of Rafah and killed at least 21 people, including 13 women and girls, in the latest mass killing of Palestinian civilians.

    “Gaza deserves better. Kanaky deserves better. Aotearoa deserves better. All our babies deserve better,” said the group.

    “It is not our role to articulate what indigenous Kanak people are fighting for. Kanak people are the experts in their own lives and struggle, and they must be listened to on their own terms at this critical moment,” the statement said.

    “Our work for Palestinian rights is, however, part of a larger struggle against settler-colonialism. It is our duty, honour and joy to make connections in this common struggle.

    ‘Dangerous ideologies’
    “These connections begin right here in Aotearoa, where Māori never ceded sovereignty. As New Zealand’s current government, France and Israel all demonstrate, the dangerous ideologies of colonialism are not yet the footnotes in history we strive to make them.

    “We recognise common injustices:

    • The failure of media to place the current uprising in the context of 150 years of history of French violence in Kanak,
    • The characterisation of Kanak activists as ‘terrorists’ all while a militarised foreign force represses them on their own land,
    • The deliberate transfer of a settler population to disenfranchise indigenous people and their control over their own territory,
    • A refusal to engage with the righteous aspirations of the Kanak people, and
    •The lack of support from Western governments around these aspirations.”

    Justice for Palestine said in its statement that it was its sincere belief that a world without colonialism was not only necessary, it was near.

    “With thanks to the steadfastness of not only Kanak, Māori and Palestinian people, and indigenous people everywhere.

    “The struggle of the Kanak people is an inspiration and reminder that while we may face the brute power of empire, we are many, and we are not going anywhere.”

    Justice for Palestine is a human rights organisation working in Aotearoa to promote justice, peace and freedom for the Palestinian people.

    It added: “Now is the hour for Te Tiriti justice, and liberation for both the Kanak and Palestinian people.”


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • ‘I can’t just stand back’: Kanak pro-independence activist follows mum’s footsteps

    By Pretoria Gordon, RNZ News journalist

    Jessie Ounei is following in her mum’s footsteps as a Kanak pro-independence activist.

    Last Wednesday, Ounei organised a rally outside the French Embassy in Wellington to “shed light on what is happening in New Caledonia“.

    She said there was not enough information, and the information that had been reported in mainstream media was skewed.

    “It is depicting us as savages, as violent, and not giving proper context to what has actually happened, and what is happening in New Caledonia,” Ounei said.

    Her mum, Susanna Ounei, was born in Ouvéa in New Caledonia, and was a founding member of the Kanak independence movement, now the umbrella group FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front).

    “Ouvéa is the island where 19 of our fathers, uncles, and brothers were massacred,” Jessie Ounei said.

    “And it was actually that massacre that was a catalyst for the Matignon Accords and eventually the Nouméa Accords.”

    More power to Kanaks
    In 1988, an agreement, the Matignon Accord, between the French and the Kanaks was signed, which proposed a referendum on independence to be held by 1998. Instead, a subsequent agreement, the Nouméa Accord, was signed in 1998, which would give more power to Kanaks over a 20-year transition period, with three independence referenda to be held from 2018.

    Jessie Ounei (left), her mum Susanna Ounei, and her brother Toui Jymmy Jinsokuna Burēdo Ounei in Ouvéa, New Caledonia. Credit: Supplied
    Jessie Ounei (left), her mum Susanna Ounei, and her brother Toui Jymmy Jinsokuna Burēdo Ounei in Ouvéa, New Caledonia. Image: Jessie Ounei/RNZ

    In 2018, the first of the three referenda were held with 57 percent voting against, and 43 voting for independence from France.

    In 2020, there was a slight increase in the “yes” votes with 47 percent voting for, and 53 percent voting against independence.

    The third referendum however was mired in controversy and is at the centre of the current political unrest in New Caledonia.

    The date for the vote, 12 December 2021, was announced by France without consensus and departed from the two-year gap between the referenda that had been held previously This drew the ire of pro-independence parties.

    The parties called for the vote to be delayed by six months saying they were not able to campaign and mobilise voters during the pandemic and appealed for time to observe traditional mourning rites for the 280 Kanak people who died during a covid-19 outbreak.

    France refused new referendum
    France refused and Kanak leaders called for a boycott of the vote in December which resulted in a record low voter turnout of 44 percent, compared to 86 percent in the previous referendum, and the mostly pro-French voters registering an overwhelming 96 percent vote against New Caledonia becoming an independent country.

    Kanak pro-independence parties do not recognise the result of the third referendum, saying a vote on independence could not be held without the participation of the colonised indigenous peoples.

    But France and pro-independent French loyalists in New Caledonia insist the vote was held legally and the decision of Kanak people not to participate was their own and therefore the result was legitimate.

    Because of this, for the past several years New Caledonia has been stuck in a kind of political limbo with France and the pro-French loyalists in New Caledonia pushing the narrative that the territory has voted “no” to independence three times and therefore must now negotiate a new permanent political status under France.

    While on the other hand, pro-independence Kanaks insisting that the Nouméa accord which they interpreted as a pathway to decolonisation had failed and therefore a new pathway to self-determination needs to be negotiated.

    Paris has made numerous attempts since 2021 to bring the two diametrically opposed sides in the territory together to decide on a common future but it has all so far been in vain.

    A pro New Caledonia protest outside the French Embassy in Wellington
    “Free Kanaky” . . . pro-Kanak independence protesters outside the French Embassy in Wellington last week. Image: RNZ/Angus Dreaver

    New Caledonia’s ‘frozen’ electoral rolls
    Despite the political impasse in the territory, France earlier this year proposed a constitutional amendment that would change the electoral roll in the territory sparking large scale protests on the Kanak side which were mirrored by support rallies organised by pro-French settlers.

    But what is so controversial about a constitutional amendment?

    Under the terms of the Nouméa Accord, voting in provincial elections was restricted to people who had resided in New Caledonia prior to 1998, and their children. The measure was aimed at giving greater representation to the Kanaks who had become a minority population in their own land and to prevent them becoming even more of a minority.

    The French government’s proposed constitutional amendment would allow French residents who have lived in New Caledonia continuously for more than 10 years to vote. It is estimated this would enable a further 25,000 non-indigenous people, most of them pro-French settlers, to vote in local elections which would weaken the indigenous Kanak vote.

    Despite multiple protests from indigenous Kanaks, who called on the French government to resolve the political impasse before making any electoral changes, Paris pressed ahead with the proposed legislation passing in both the Senate and the National Assembly.

    On Monday 13 May, civil unrest erupted in the capital of Nouméa, with armed clashes between Kanak pro-independence protesters and security forces. Seven people have been killed, including two gendarmes, and hundreds of others have been injured.

    Last Wednesday, Jessie Ounei organised a rally outside the French Embassy in Wellington to raise awareness of the violence against Kanak in New Caledonia.

    “For decades, the Kanak independence movement has persevered in their pursuit of autonomy and self-determination, only to be met with broken promises and escalating violence orchestrated by the French government,” she said.

    A Kanak flag raised high at the New Caledonia protest outside the French Embassy in Wellington last week.
    A Kanak flag raised high at the New Caledonia protest outside the French Embassy in Wellington last week. Image: RNZ/Angus Dreaver

    ‘Time to stand in solidarity’
    “It is time to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people and demand an end to this cycle of oppression and injustice.”

    Ounei said she was very sad, and very angry, because it could have been prevented.

    “This was not something that was a surprise, it was something that was foreseen, and it was warned about,” she said.

    Ounei was also born in Ouvéa, and moved to Wellington in 2000 with her mum and her brother, Toui Jymmy Jinsokuna Burēdo Ounei. Susanna Ounei died in 2016, but had never gone back to New Caledonia, because she was disappointed in the direction of the independence movement.

    “Ouvéa has a staunch history of taking a stand against French imperialism, colonialism,” Jessie Ounei said.

    “I have grown up hearing, seeing and feeling the struggle of our people.”

    She said her mum, and a group of activists, were the original people who had reclaimed Kanak identity.

    “If I can stand here and say that I’m Kanak, it is because of those people,” she said.

    Now Ounei has picked up the baton, and is following in her mum’s footsteps.

    She said after spending her entire life watching her mum give herself to the cause, it was important for her to do the same.

    “I have two daughters, I have family, if I don’t do this, I don’t know who else will,” she said.

    “And I can’t just stand back. It’s not the way that I grew up. My mum wouldn’t have stood back. She never stood back.

    “And even though I feel quite under-qualified to be here, I want to honour all the sacrifices that the activists, including my mum, made.”

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Protesters picket Rakon offices and demand NZ halt Israel-bound sales

    Asia Pacific Report

    Pro-Palestine protesters picketed the offices of Auckland-based electronics manufacturer Rakon today, accusing it of exporting military-capable products for Israel, which is under investigation by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for genocide against the 2 million people of Gaza.

    The ICJ, the world’s highest lawcourt, last Friday ordered Israel to stop its military assault on Rafah in the southern half of the besieged Gaza Strip.

    Legal commentators have argued that any country assisting Israel could potentially be prosecuted for complicity in Israel’s alleged war crimes.

    Former Shortland Street actor Will Alexander — who is in his 10th day of a hunger strike in protest over Israel’s war on Gaza war — also spoke at the Rakon rally.

    A statement by Rakon claimed it was “not aware” of any of its products being used in weapons that were supplied to Israel.

    “Rakon does not design or manufacture weapons. We do not supply products to Israel for weapons, and we are not aware of our products being incorporated into weapons which are provided to Israel,” the statement said.

    However, Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) has written to the government asking it to suspend military-capable exports from Rakon pending an independent investigation into their use in Israel’s “genocidal attacks on Gaza”.

    Rakon makes crystal oscillators used in the guidance systems of smart bombs, PSNA national chair John Minto said in a statement published today by The Daily Blog.

    Company’s ‘military objective’
    “Their 2005 business plan says the company’s objective was to dominate ‘the lucrative and expanding guided munitions and military positioning market’ within five years,” he said.

    “Rakon sends these ‘smart bomb’ parts to US arms manufacturers which build the bombs which inevitably end up in Israel’s genocidal attacks on Gaza.

    “Already the United Nations Human Rights Council has passed a resolution calling for a halt to all arms sales to Israel and last Friday the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to end its attacks on Rafah because of Israel’s indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinians.”

    Minto added that the New Zealand government had been “muddying the water” by saying New Zealand did not export arms to Israel.

    “Exporting parts for guided munitions and JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munitions) bombs which end up in the killing fields of Gaza means we are actively supporting Israel’s genocide”, Minto said.

    An Amnesty International investigation has highlighted two incidents involving JDAM bombs which appear to be war crimes.

    “It is highly likely the bombs used in these mass killing events (43 civilians killed — 19 children, 14 women and 10 men) have parts manufactured in Rakon’s Mt Wellington factory,” Minto said.

    The UN Genocide Convention requires all 153 signatory countries, including New Zealand, to take action to prevent genocide.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Kanaky New Caledonia unrest: Macron lifts state of emergency ‘for time being’

    By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk

    French President Emmanuel Macron has announced the 12-day state of emergency imposed in New Caledonia on May 15 would not be extended “for the time being”.

    The decision not to renew the state of emergency was mainly designed to “allow the components of the pro-independence FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front) to hold meetings and to be able to go to the roadblocks and ask for them to be lifted”, Macron said in a media release late yesterday.

    The state of emergency officially ended at 5am today (Nouméa time).

    It was imposed after deadly and destructive riots erupted in the French Pacific archipelago with a backdrop of ongoing protests against proposed changes to the French Constitution, that would allow citizens having resided there for at least 10 years to take part in local elections.

    Pro-independence parties feared the opening of conditions of eligibility would significantly weaken the indigenous Kanak population’s political representation.

    During a 17-hour visit to New Caledonia on Thursday last week, Macron set the lifting of blockades as the precondition to the resumption of “concrete and serious” political talks regarding New Caledonia’s long-term political future.

    The talks were needed in order to find a successor agreement, including all parties (pro-independence and “loyalists” or pro-France), to the Nouméa Accord signed in 1998.

    Attempts to hold these talks, over the past two-and-a-half years, have so far failed.

    House arrests lifted
    Not renewing the state of emergency would also put an end to restriction on movements and a number of house arrests placed on several pro-independence radical leaders — including Christian Téin, the leader of a so-called CCAT (Field Action Coordination Committee), close to the more radical fringe of FLNKS.

    The CCAT is regarded as the main organiser of the protests which led to ongoing unrest.

    In a speech published on social networks on Friday after Macron’s visit, Téin called for the easing of security measures to allow him to speak to militants, but in the same breath he assured supporters the intention was to “remain mobilised and maintain resistance”.

    Since they broke out on May 13, the riots have caused seven deaths, hundreds of injuries and estimated damage of almost 1 billion euros (NZ$1.8 billion) to the local economy. Up to 500 companies, business and retail stores had also been looted or destroyed by arson.

    Following Macron’s visit last week, a “mission” consisting of three high-level public servants has remained in New Caledonia to foster a resumption of political dialogue between leaders of all parties.

    French President Emmanuel Macron
    French President Emmanuel Macron . . . “this violence cannot pretend to represent a legitimate political action”. Image: Caledonia TV screenshot RNZ

    More reinforcements
    In the same announcement, the French presidential office said a fresh contingent of “seven additional gendarme mobile forces units, for a total of 480” would be flown to New Caledonia “within the coming hours”.

    Macron said this would bring the number of security forces in New Caledonia to 3500.

    He once again condemned the blockades and looting, saying “this violence cannot pretend to represent a legitimate political action”.

    In parallel to the lifting of the state of emergency, a dusk-to-dawn curfew remained in force.

    On the ground, mainly in Nouméa and its outskirts, security operations were ongoing, with several neighbourhoods and main access roads still blocked and controlled by pockets of rioters.

    At the weekend, intrusions from groups of rioters forced French forces to evacuate some 30 residents (mostly of European descent) some of whose houses had been set on fire.

    La Tontouta airport still closed
    Meanwhile, the international Nouméa-La Tontouta airport would remain closed to all commercial flights until June 2, it was announced on Monday. The airport, which remained cut off from the capital Nouméa due to pro-independence roadblocks, has been closed for the past three weeks.

    French delegate minister for Overseas Marie Guévenoux, who arrived with Macron last week and has remained in New Caledonia since, assured on Sunday the situation in Nouméa and its outskirts was “improving”.

    “Police and gendarmes are slowly regaining ground… The (French) state will regain all of these neighbourhoods,” she told France Television.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Martyn Bradbury: Shallow NZ media coverage of Kanaky crackdown focused on white tourists

    COMMENTARY: By Martyn Bradbury

    The coverage by the New Zealand media over the brutal crackdown in New Caledonia by the French on the indigenous Kanak people as they erupted in protest at France’s naked gerrymandering of electoral law has been depressingly shallow.

    To date most mainstream NZ media (with the exception RNZ Pacific, Māori media and the excellent David Robie) have been focused on getting scared Kiwi tourists back home, very few have actually explained what the hell has been going on.

    This sudden eruption of protest follows a corrupt new draft law French law allowing French people to vote after only 10 years living there.

    A typical NZ media headline during the New Caledonia crisis
    A typical NZ media headline during the New Caledonia crisis . . . trapped Kiwis repirted, but not the cause of the independence upheaval. Image: NZ Herald screenshot APR

    This law is a direct attack on Kanak sovereignty, it’s a purely gerrymandering response to ensure a democratic majority to prevent any independence referendum.

    While no one else is allowed in there, as Asia Pacific Report reports the French are using heavy handed tactics…

    Pacific civil society and solidarity groups today stepped up their pressure on the French government, accusing it of a “heavy-handed” crackdown on indigenous Kanak protest in New Caledonia, comparing it to Indonesian security forces crushing West Papuan dissent.

    A state of emergency was declared last week, at least [seven] people have been killed — [five] of them indigenous Kanaks — and more than 200 people have been arrested after rioting in the capital Nouméa followed independence protests over controversial electoral changes

    In Sydney, the Australia West Papua Association declared it was standing in solidarity with the Kanak people in their self-determination struggle against colonialism.

    Don’t stand idly by
    We should not as a Pacific Island nation be standing idly by while the French are giving the indigenous people the bash.

    We need to be asking what the hell has France’s elite troops being doing while no one is watching. The New Zealand government must ask the French Ambassador in and put our concerns to them directly.

    Calm must come back but there has to be a commitment to the 1998 Noumea Accord which clearly stipulates that only the Kanak and long-term residents prior to 1998 would be eligible to vote in provincial ballots and local referendums.

    To outright vote against this as the French National Assembly did last week is outrageous and will add an extra 25,000 voters into the election dramatically changing the electoral demographics in New Caledonia to the disadvantage of indigenous Kanaks who make up 42 percent of the 270,000 population.

    This was avoidable, but the French are purposely trying to screw the scrum and rig the outcome.

    We should be very clear that is unacceptable.

    Our very narrow media focus on just getting Kiwis out of New Caledonia with no reflection whatsoever on what the French are doing is pathetic.

    Republished from The Daily Blog with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Palestine protesters condemn Google, demand NZ action over Gaza genocide

    Asia Pacific Report

    Pro-Palestinian protesters today condemned Google for sacking protesting staff and demanded that the New Zealand government immediately “cut ties with Israeli genocide”.

    Wearing Google logo masks and holding placards saying “Google complicit in genocide” and “Google drop Project Nimbus”, the protesters were targeting the global tech company for sacking more than two dozen employees following protests against its US$1.2 billion cloud-computing contract with the Israeli government.

    The workers were terminated earlier this month after a company investigation ruled they had been involved in protests inside the tech giant’s offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California.

    Nine demonstrators were arrested, according to the protest organisers of No Tech for Apartheid.

    In Auckland, speakers condemned Google’s crackdown on company dissent and demanded that the New Zealand government take action in the wake of both the UN’s International Court of Justice, or World Court, and separate International Criminal Court rulings last week.

    “On Friday, the ICJ made another determination — stop the military assault on Rafah, something that Israel ignores,” Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) secretary Neil Scott said.

    Earlier in the week, the International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan announced that he was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes. He was also seeking arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders.

    ‘Obvious Israel is committing genocide’
    “That brings us to our politicians,” said Scott.

    “It is obvious that Israel is committing genocide. We all know that Israel is committing genocide.

    “It is obvious that the Israeli leadership is committing crimes against humanity.”

    Scott said the New Zealand government — specifically Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters — “must now be under the spotlight in the court of public opinion here in Aotearoa”.

    “They have done nothing but mouth platitudes about Israeli behaviour. They have done nothing of substance.

    “They could cut ties with genocide.”

    Bosnian support for the Palestinian protest rally
    Bosnian support for the Palestinian protest rally . . . two days ago the UN General Assembly approved a resolution establishing July 11 as an international day in remembrance for the 1995 Srebrenica genocide. Image: Del Abcede/APR

    Two demands of government
    Scott said the protests — happening every week in New Zealand now into eight months, but rarely reported on by media  — had made a raft of calls, including the blocking of Rakon supplying parts for Israeli “bombs dropped on Gaza” and persuading the Superfund to divest from Israeli companies.

    He said that today the protesters were calling for the government to do two things given the Israeli genocide:

    • End “working holiday” visas for young Israelis visiting Aotearoa, and
    • Expelling the Israeli ambassador and shut the embassy

    At least 35,903 people have been killed and 80,420 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7.

    The Palestinian protest in Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau today
    The Palestinian protest in Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau today with a focus on Google. Image: Del Abcede/APR

     

     

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Open letter from Kanaky: Things are really bad, we need to speed up decolonisation

    Asia Pacific Report

    By a Kanak from Aotearoa New Zealand in Kanaky New Caledonia

    I’ve been trying to feel cool and nice on this beautiful sunny day in Kanaky. But it has already been spoiled by President Emmanuel Macron’s flashy day-long visit on Thursday.

    Currently special French military forces are trying to take full control of the territory. Very ambitously.

    They’re clearing all the existing barricades around the capital Nouméa, both the northern and southern highways, and towards the northern province.

    Today, May 25, after 171 years of French occupation, we are seeing the “Lebanonisation” of our country which, after only 10 days of revolt, saw many young Kanaks killed by bullets. Example: 15 bodies reportedly found in the sea, including four girls.

    [Editor: There have been persistent unconfirmed rumours of a higher death rate than has been reported, but the official death toll is currently seven — four of them Kanak, including a 17-year-old girl, and two gendarmes, one by accident. Lebanonisation is a negative political term referring to how a prosperous, developed, and politically stable country descends into a civil war or becomes a failed state — as happened with Lebanon during the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War.]

    One of the bodies was even dragged by a car. Several were caught, beaten, burned, and tortured by the police, the BAC and the militia, one of whose leaders was none other than a loyalist elected official.

    With the destruction and looting of many businesses, supermarkets, ATMs, neighbourhood grocery stores, bakeries . . . we see that the CCAT has been infiltrated by a criminal organisation which chooses very specific economic targets to burn.

    Leaders trying to discredit our youth
    At the same time, the leaders organise the looting, supply alcohol and drugs (amphetamines) in order to “criminalise” and discredit our youth.

    A dividing line has been created between the northern and southern districts of Greater Nouméa in order to starve our populations. As a result, we have a rise in prices by the colonial counters in these dormitory towns where an impoverished Kanak population lives.

    President Macron came with a dialogue mission team made up of ministers from the “young leaders” group, whose representative in the management of high risks in the Pacific is none other than a former CIA officer.

    The presence of DGSE agents [the secret service involved in the bombing of the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior in 1985] and their mercenaries also gives us an idea of ​​what we are going to endure again and again for a month.

    The state has already chosen its interlocutors who have been much the same for 40 years. The same ones that led us into the current situation.

    Therefore, we firmly reaffirm our call for the intervention of the BRICS, the Pacific Islands Forum members, and the Melanesian Spearhead group (MSG) to put an end to the violence perpetrated against the children of the indigenous clans because the Kanak people are one of the oldest elder peoples that this land has had.

    There are only 160,000 individuals left today in a country full of wealth.

    Food and medical aid needed
    Each death represents a big loss and it means a lot to the person’s clan. More than ever, we need to initiate the decolonisation process and hold serious discussions so that we can achieve our sovereignty very quickly.

    Today we are asking for the intervention of international aid for:

    • The protection of our population;
    • food aid; and
    • medical support, because we no longer trust the medical staff of Médipôle (Nouméa hospital) and the liberals who make sarcastic judgments towards our injured and our people.

    This open letter was written by a long-standing Kanak resident of New Zealand who has been visiting New Caledonia and wanted to share his dismay at the current crisis with friends back here and with Asia Pacific Report. His name is being withheld for his security.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • What do Taiwanese people think about China’s military drills? | Radio Free Asia (RFA)


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Kanaky New Caledonia unrest: Macron ends day of political talks with both sides

    ANALYSIS: By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk

    French President Emmanuel Macron has ended a meeting-packed whirlwind day in New Caledonia with back-to-back sessions including opposing leaders in the French Pacific territory.

    Macron left New Caledonia this morning, leaving some members of his entourage to deal with details in the still-inflamed situation.

    After landing there yesterday morning as part of an emergency visit to address the current crisis, the president’s day was busy.

    Macron held meeting after meeting first with economic stakeholders, as New Caledonia’s economy faced the bleakest situation in its history, after 11 days of rioting, burning and looting.

    He also held meetings with elected members of the local Congress, the territorial assembly, as well as the mayors.

    Later in the day, Macron met police and gendarmes and expressed his gratitude and condolences for the loss of two gendarmes killed during the riots.

    He confirmed that some 3000 security force officers were stationed in New Caledonia and would stay “as long as it takes” to fully restore law and order.

    By the end of Thursday, Macron managed to listen to opposing views from the antagonistic camps, with sometimes divisions seen even within each of the blocks.

    Urgent economic measures
    Paris will set up a special “solidarity fund” to assist economic recovery, in the face of “colossal” damage caused by more than a week of burning and looting of businesses — about 400 destroyed for an estimated cost bordering 1 billion euros (NZ$1.7 billion).

    This would include measures such as emergency assistance to pay salaries, to delay payments and debts, to get insurers to move quickly and for banks to grant zero-interest loans for reconstruction.

    Socio-economic roots to disorder
    Macron also met groups of young New Caledonians who expressed distress at the lack of perspective they faced regarding their future.

    Recognising that the violent unrest and rioting were still ongoing in Nouméa, its outskirts and other parts of New Caledonia, Macron labelled them “multifactor” and “in part, political”.

    “They rely on delinquents who have sometimes overwhelmed their order-givers. Then there is this opportunistic delinquency that has aggregated. This has crystallised a political disagreement — and, let’s face it, this question of the electoral roll that was taken separately from everything else.”

    As one of the major causes of New Caledonia’s current situation, the French president singled out social inequalities that “have continued to increase . . .  They are in part fuelling the uninhibited racism that has re-emerged over the past 11 days”.

    Macron said those politicians, who had recently radicalised their talks and actions, bore an “immense” responsibility.

    Distressed youth
    “The question now is to restore confidence between all stakeholders, political forces, economic forces … and regain confidence in the future,” he said.

    “We are not starting from a blank page. Our foundations are those on which the Nouméa and Matignon Accords [1988 and 1998] have been built.

    “But one has to admit that still, today, vision for a common destiny . . .  and the re-balancing has not achieved its goal of reducing economic and social inequalities. On the contrary, they have increased,” Macron said.

    “Today, I have met youths of all walks of life and what struck me was that they felt discouraged, afraid, sometimes angry and that they need a vision for the future,” Macron told media.

    “Really, it’s now the responsibility of all those in charge to build this path.”

    CCAT’s ‘public enemy number one’
    On the sensitive political chapter, Macron spent a significant part of his visit to try and bring together political parties for talks.

    He managed only in so far as he did meet with pro-independence leaders, even accepting that the controversial CCAT (“field action coordination committee” set up late in 2023 by the Union Calédonienne, one of the main components of the pro-independence FLNKS), be allowed to attend the meeting.

    CCAT leader Christian Téin, despite being under house arrest, and regarded by critics as “public enemy number one”, was brought to the meeting — much to the surprise of observers.

    Behind closed doors, at the French High Commission in downtown Nouméa, Macron also met pro-France (Loyalist) leaders, but because of their divisions, he had to arrange two separate meetings: one with Le Rassemblement and Les Loyalistes, and another one for Calédonie Ensemble.

    Macron [right] with New Caledonia’s President Louis Mapou [left] and Congress President Roch Wamytan [centre]
    New Caledonia’s President Louis Mapou (left) and Congress President Roch Wamytan (centre) with Emmanuel Macron. Image: RNZ/Pool

    But a meeting of all parties together remained elusive and did not take place.

    Well into the evening, Macron held a press conference to announce the contents of his exchanges with a wide range of political, but also economic and civil society stakeholders.

    Controversial electoral amendment delayed, not withdrawn
    Elaborating on the outcomes of the talks he had with political leaders, Macron stressed that he had “made a very clear commitment to ensure that the controversial reform is not rushed by force and that in view of the current context, we give ourselves a few weeks so as to allow peace to return, dialogue to resume, in view of a comprehensive agreement”.

    No going back on the third referendum
    “I told them the state will be in its role of impartiality,” Macron said, but added that on the third self-determination referendum (held in December 2021 and boycotted by the pro-independence camp): “I will not go back on this.”

    On the basis of the third referendum which was part of three consultations — held in 1998, 2020 and 2021 and that all resulted in a majority rejecting independence for New Caledonia — Macron has consistently considered that New Caledonia has chosen to remain French.

    But under the 1998 (now almost expired) Nouméa Accord, after those three referenda have been held local political actors have yet to meet to consider “the situation thus created”.

    The Accord’s terms were encouraging talks that would produce the much-referred to “local agreement” which would be the basis of the successor pact to the 1998 Accord.

    “The political dialogue must resume immediately. I have decided to install a mediating and working mission and in one month, an update will be made,” Macron said, referring to a “comprehensive agreement” from all local parties regarding the future of New Caledonia.

    Macron reiterated that he wanted a deal to be reached, which would become part of the French Constitution and automatically replace the controversial constitutional amendment focusing on New Caledonia’s electoral roll changes.

    For the local agreement to emerge, Macron also appointed a team of negotiators tasked to assist.

    Renewed call for local, comprehensive agreement
    “The objective is to reach this comprehensive agreement and that it should cover at least the question of the electoral roll, but also the organisation of power . . .  citizenship, the self-determination vote issue, a new social pact and the way of dealing with inequalities,” he told reporters.

    Other short to long-term pressing economic issues such as diversification of the nickel industry, which is undergoing its worst crisis due to the collapse of world nickel prices (-45 percent over the past 12 months), should also be the subject of political talks and be included in the new deal.

    “My wish is also that this [local] agreement should be endorsed by the vote of New Caledonians.”

    The controversial text still needs to be ratified by the French Parliament’s Congress (the National Assembly and the Senate, in a joint sitting with a required majority of two-thirds). This electoral change is perceived to be one of the main causes of the riots hitting New Caledonia.

    Under the amendment there are two sections:

    • “Unfreezing” New Caledonia’s eligibility conditions for provincial local elections, to allow everyone residing there for an uninterrupted 10 years to cast their vote, and
    • However, it stipulates that if a comprehensive and wider agreement is produced by all politicians, then the whole amendment is deemed null and void, and that the new locally-produced text becomes law and will replace it.

    The inclusive agreement has been sought by the French government for the past three years but to date, local parties have not been able to reach such a consensus.

    Talks have been held, sometimes between pro-independent and Loyalist (pro-France) parties, but never has it been possible to bring everyone to the same table at the same time, mainly because of internal divisions within each camp.

    But while evoking New Caledonia’s future political prospects, Macron stressed the immediate need was for all political stakeholders to “explicitly call for all roadblocks to be lifted in the coming hours”.

    “As soon as those withdrawals are effective and observed, then the state of emergency will be lifted too,” he said.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • China conducts military drills around Taiwan | Radio Free Asia (RFA)


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Rob Campbell: Unrest in New Caledonia – as seen through moana or colonialist eyes?

    COMMENTARY: By Rob Campbell

    Is it just me or is it not more than a little odd that coverage of current events in New Caledonia/Kanaky is dominated by the inconvenience of tourists and rescue flights out of the Pacific paradise.

    That the events are described as “disruption” or “riots” without any real reference to the cause of the actions causing inconvenience. The reason is the armed enforcement of “order” is flown into this Oceanic place from Europe.

    I guess when you live in a place called “New Zealand” in preference to “Aotearoa” you see these things through fellow colonialist eyes. Especially if you are part of the dominant colonial class.

    How different it looks if you are part of an indigenous people in Oceania — part of that “Indigenous Ocean” as Damon Salesa’s recent award-winning book describes it. The Kanaks are the indigenous Melanesian inhabitants of New Caledonia.

    The indigenous movement in Kanaky is engaged in a fight against the political structures imposed on them by France.

    Obviously there are those indigenous people who benefit from colonial rule, and those who feel powerless to change it. But increasingly there are those who choose to resist.

    Are they disrupters or are they resisting the massive disruption which France has imposed on them?

    People who have a lot of resources or power or freedom to express their culture and belonging tend not to “riot”. They don’t need to.

    Not simply holiday destinations
    The countries of Oceania are not simply holiday destinations, they are not just sources of people or resource exploitation until the natural resources or labour they have are exhausted or no longer needed.

    They are not “empty” places to trial bombs. They are not “strategic” assets in a global military chess game.

    Each place, and the ocean of which they are part have their own integrity, authenticity, and rights, tangata, whenua and moana. That is only hard to understand if you insist on retaining as your only lens that of the telescope of a 17th or 18th century European sea captain.

    The natural alliance and concern we have from these islands, is hardly with the colonial power of France, notwithstanding the apparent keenness of successive recent governments to cuddle up to Nato.

    A clue — we are not part of the “North Atlantic”.

    We have our own colonial history, far from pristine or admirable in many respects. But we are at the same time fortunate to have a framework in Te Tiriti which provides a base for working together from that history towards a better future.

    Those who would debunk that framework or seek to amend it to more clearly favour the colonial classes might think about where that option leads.

    And when we see or are inconvenienced by independence or other indigenous rights activism in Oceania we might do well to neither sit on the fence nor join the side which likes to pretend such places are rightfully controlled by France (or the United States, or Australia or New Zealand).

    Rob Campbell is chancellor of Auckland University of Technology (AUT), chair of Ara Ake, chair of NZ Rural Land and former chair of Te Whatu Ora. This article was first published by The New Zealand Herald and is republished with the author’s permission.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • NZ students stage Gaza protests in global ‘take a stand’ rallies

    Asia Pacific Report

    Thousands of students across Aotearoa New Zealand protested in a nationwide rally at seven universities across the country in a global day of solidarity with Palestine, calling on their universities to divest all partnerships with Israel.

    A combined group of students and academic staff from the country’s two largest universities chanted “AUT take a stand” at their rally in the Hikuwai Plaza in the heart of Auckland University of Technology (AUT).

    Students from the neighbouring University of Auckland (UOA) also took part.

    The students carried placards such as “Educators against genocide”, “Stand for students. Stand for justice. Stand with Palestine”, “Maite Te Awa Ki Te Moana” – te reo for “From the river to the sea – Free Palestine”.

    Another sign said, “No universities left in Gaza”, referring to Israeli military forces having destroyed all 12 universities in the besieged enclave during the war now in its eighth month.

    “We urge all students, alumni, and staff from universities across Aotearoa to sign the University Students’ Open Letter,” said organisers.

    “Let’s hold our institutions accountable, demanding they meet our calls for action and adhere to the guidelines of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement.

    ‘Gross injustices’
    “Together, we can push for change and recognise Israel’s violations for what they are — gross injustices against humanity.

    “Stand with us in this global movement of solidarity with Palestine.”

    "No universities left in Gaza"
    “No universities left in Gaza” . . . because Israel bombed or destroyed all 12. Image: David Robie/APR

    The rally was in support of thousands of students around the world demonstrating against the Israeli genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Their aim with their universities:

    * Declare and recognise Palestine as an independent and sovereign state;
    * Disclose and divest all partnerships with Israel; and
    * Denounce antisemitism, Islamophobia and all forms of discrimination.


    Ali, the “voice of Free Palestine”.      Video: Café Pacific

    A declaration said that the nationwide protest expressed “our unapologetic solidarity with Palestinians and our commitment to the Palestinian struggle for liberation “.

    “We refuse to be silent or complicit in genocide, and we reject all forms of cooperation between our institutions and the Israeli state.

    "End the genocide"
    “End the genocide” . . . a watermelon protest. Image: David Robie/APR

    ‘Major win’ at Melbourne University
    Meanwhile, in Melbourne pro-Palestine protesters who occupied a university building last week called off their encampment.

    Protest leaders told a media conference at the University of Melbourne that had agreed to end the protest after the institution had agreed to disclose research partnerships with weapons manufacturers.

    “After months of campaigning, rallies, petitions, meetings and in recent weeks, the encampment, the University of Melbourne has finally agreed to meet an important demand of our campaign,” a spokesperson later told the ABC.

    “This is a major win.”

    Some of the protesting students at AUT university's Hikuwai Plaza
    Some of the protesting students at AUT University’s Hikuwai Plaza today. Image: David Robie/APR

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Macron says ‘peace, calm and security’ his top priority for New Caledonia

    By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific Desk

    French President Emmanuel Macron landed in Nouméa today under heavy security after pro-independence protests by indigenous Kanaks followed by rioting in the Pacific territory of New Caledonia.

    Speaking to a pool of journalists, he set as his top priority the return to peace with New Caledonia still in the grip of violent unrest after 10 days of roadblocks, rioting, burning and looting.

    The riots, related to New Caledonia’s independence issue, started on May 13, as the French National Assembly in Paris voted in favour of a controversial constitutional amendment which would significantly modify the rules of eligibility for local elections.

    The pro-independence movement FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front) objected to the text, saying this, by allowing people to vote locally after 10 years of uninterrupted residence, would have a significant impact on their future representation.

    The amendment remains to be ratified by a meeting of the Congress in Versailles (a joint sitting of both Upper and Lower Houses) before it would take effect.

    Earlier, Macron said he intended to call this joint sitting sometime before the end of June.

    New Caledonia’s pro-independence parties, as well as some pro-France parties, agree the current situation is not conducive to such a vote.

    Call to postpone key vote
    They are calling for the Versailles Congress joint sitting to be at least postponed or even that the controversial text be withdrawn altogether by the French government.

    During his trip, Macron is also accompanied by Home Affairs and Overseas Minister Gérald Darmanin (who has been dealing with New Caledonia since 2022); Darmanin’s deputy (“delegate” minister for overseas) Marie Guévenoux; and Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu (who was in charge of the French overseas portfolio before Darmanin).

    The CCAT field cells have reinforced their northern mobilisation
    The CCAT resistance “field cells” have reinforced their northern mobilisation. Image: Caledonia TV screenshot APR

    He also brought with him several high-level public servants who would form a “dialogue mission” tasked to restore contacts with New Caledonia’s political stakeholders.

    The “mission” will stay in New Caledonia “as long as it takes” and its goal will be to have a “local political dialogue with the view of arriving at a comprehensive political agreement” regarding New Caledonia’s long-term future.

    Along with the presidential Airbus, a military A-400 also landed in New Caledonia, bringing more law and order reinforcements.

    Macron plans to meet political, economic, custom (traditional) and civil society representatives.

    Doubts remain on whether all of the local parties would accept to meet the French Head of State.

    Emmanuel Macron arrives in Nouméa
    French President Emmanuel Macron arrives in Nouméa . . . seeking dialogue to find solutions to New Caledonian unrest. Image: NC 1ère TV screenshot APR

    Normal ‘health care, food supply’ aim
    Talking to the media, Macron said a return to “peace, calm and security” was “the priority of all priorities”.

    This would also imply restoring normal “health care, goods and food supply” which have been gravely affected for the past 10 days.

    “I am aware the population is suffering from a great crisis situation. We will also talk about economic reconstruction. For the political questions, the most sensitive ones, I came to talk about New Caledonia’s future,” he said.

    “At the end of today, decisions and announcements will be made. I have come here with a sense of determination. And with a sense of respect and humility.”

    Since May 13, the riots have caused the death of six people, destroyed an estimated 400 businesses for a total estimated cost, experts say, is now bordering 1 billion euros (NZ$1.8 billion).

    Asked by journalists if all this could be achieved in a matter of just a few hours, Macron replied: “We shall see. I have no set limit” (on his New Caledonia stay).

    Macron’s schedule with a visit initially set to last not more than 24 hours, remains sketchy.

    Visit extended to 48 hours
    It appears to have been extended to 48 hours.

    In many parts of New Caledonia, French law enforcement (police, gendarmes) were today still struggling to regain control of several strategic access roads, as well as several districts of the capital Nouméa.

    Macron said the state of emergency, which was imposed Wednesday last week for an initial period of 12 days, “should not be extended”, but that security forces currently deployed “will stay as long as necessary, even during the Paris 2024 Olympics”.

    He also urged all stakeholders to “call for the roadblocks to be lifted”.

    “I am here because dialogue is necessary, but I’m calling on everyone’s sense of responsibility.”

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • French ‘betrayal’ triggered Kanak youth rebellion in Nouméa, says activist

    By Adam Gifford of Waatea News

    A New Zealand Kanak woman, Jessie Ounei, says young people in New Caledonia feel a sense of anger and betrayal at the way France is attempting to “snuff out” any prospect of independence for its Pacific territory.

    France invaded New Caledonia in 1853 and pushed the Kanak people into reservations, denying them civil and political rights for a century.

    In parallel with Nga Tamatoa in Aotearoa, a resistance movement sprang up in the 1960s and 1970s driven by young people, including Jessie Ounei’s late mother Susanna Ounei, and the territory has been on the United Nations decolonisation list since 1986.

    Public Interest Journalism Fund
    PUBLIC INTEREST JOURNALISM

    Riots broke out last week after the French National Assembly moved to give voting rights to settlers with 10 years residence, which would overwhelm the indigenous vote.

    Jessie Ounei told Radio Waatea host Shane Te Pou the independence movement had tried to resist the move peacefully, but once the National Assembly vote happened young people took action.

    “It’s a total betrayal. Young people have grown up with a sense of identity and we understand out worth and that’s largely because of the work that was done in the 1960s, 1970s and and 1980s to reclaim our identity so we’re not unaware of our worth or our identity, or how hard done we are being so we were hopeful this was going to be it,” she said.

    France ‘pulled the rug’
    “But France has totally pulled the rug out.”

    Ounei said she had been hearing unconfirmed reports of rightwing settler militias taking vigilante action against the Kanak population.

    Asia Pacific Report says French officials have cited a death toll of at least six so far — including three Kanaks, one a 17-year-old girl, and two police officers, and 214 people have been arrested in the state of emergency.

    French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Nouméa today in an attempt to create a dialogue to resolve the tensions.

    An interview with Jesse Ounei and David Small. Republished from Waatea News, Auckland’s Māori radio broadcaster.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • French President Emmanuel Macron lands in Nouméa amid unrest

    By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist

    French president Emmanuel Macron has landed in Nouméa.

    The French Ambassador to the Pacific Véronique Roger-Lacan was on the flight.

    “The unrest in New Caledonia is absolutely unacceptable,” Roger-Lacan told RNZ Pacific in an interview.

    She had just arrived back from Caracas where she represented France at this week’s United Nations seminar on decolonisation.

    “As far as the French state is concerned, our door is open, we are welcoming everyone for dialogue, in Paris or in Nouméa. It’s up to everyone to join further dialogue,” Roger-Lacan said.

    Roger-Lacan said the unrest had been provoked by very specific parts of the New Caledonian establishment.

    She said she made a plea for dialogue at the United Nations decolonisation seminar in light of the deadly protests in New Caledonia.

    ‘Up to all the parties’
    “Well, what I want to say is that the Nouméa agreement has enabled everyone in New Caledonia to have a representation in the French National Assembly and in the Senate,” Roger-Lacan said.

    “And it is up to all the parties, including the independantistes, who have some representatives in the National Assembly and in the Senate, to use their political power to convince everyone in the National Assembly and in the Parliament.

    “If they don’t manage [this], it is [an] amazingly unacceptable way of voicing their concerns through violence.”

    While the French government and anti-independence leaders maintain protest organisers are to blame for the violence, pro-independence parties say they have been holding peaceful protests for months.

    They say violence was born from socio-economic disparities and France turning a deaf ear to the territorial government’s call for a controversial proposed constitutional electoral amendment to be scrapped.

    Roger-Lacan said while “everyone” was saying this unrest was called for because they were not listened to by the French state, France stands ready for dialogue.

    She said just because one group failed to “use their political power to convince the Assembly and the Senate”, it did not justify deadly protests.

    Composition questioned
    A long-time journalist reporting on Pacific issues said the composition of the French President’s delegation to New Caledonia would anger pro-independence leaders.

    Islands Business correspondent Nic Maclellan said Macron would be accompanied by the current Overseas Minister Gérald Darmanin and Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu.

    “They will no doubt be welcomed by supporters of the French republic, anti-independence politicians who want to stay with France but Lecornu and Darmanin have been responsible for key decisions taken over the last three or four years that have lead to this current crisis,” Maclellan said.

    President Macron has said the main objective of the trip is to resume political talks with all stakeholders and find a political solution to the crisis.

    United Nations decolonisation
    This year Véronique Roger-Lacan represented France at the table at a seminar which took place in the lead up to the UN Committee on Decolonisation in New York in June.

    The right to self determination is a constitutional principle in the French constitution as much as it is in the UN Charter, Roger-Lacan explained.

    The meeting she has just been at in Caracas, “prepares a draft, UN General Assembly resolution, that is being examined in the committee, which is called the C-24,” she said.

    Roger-Lacan was appointed to the role of French ambassador to the Pacific in July last year.

    Various groups have been calling for the United Nations to head a delegation to New Caledonia to observe the current situation.

    Roger-Lacan said the New Caledonia coalition government representative and the FLNKS representative both called for a UN mission at the meeting.

    “Then there were five representatives of the loyalists and they all made the case of the fact that a third referenda had been in compliance with the two UN General Assembly resolutions determining the future status of New Caledonia,” she said.

    As the representative of the French state, she made the case that France had always been the only administrative power to sit in the C-24 — “and to negotiate and cooperate,” she said.

    “The United States, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom never did that,” Roger-Lacan said.

    She also welcomed the UN, “whenever they want to visit”, she said.

    “That’s the plea that I made on behalf of the French government, a plea for dialogue.”

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Solidarity action group calls on NZ to support Kanak, Papuan independence

    Asia Pacific Report

    A New Zealand solidarity action group has called on the New Zealand government to back indigenous independence calls in the Pacific and press both France to grant Kanaks sovereignty and Indonesia to end its rule in West Papua.

    Catherine Delahunty, a former Green Party MP and spokesperson for West Papua Action Aotearoa, said today it would be good timing to exert pressure on Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron visiting the New Caledonian capital Nouméa this week.

    “France is not living up to its commitments under the Noumea Accord and not meeting its responsibilities towards a country listed on the UN Decolonisation Committee,” she said in a statement.

    The West Papua Action Aotearoa network was standing in solidarity with the Kanak people who were struggling for independence from French rule, she said.

    “The New Zealand government could show support for both the end of French rule in Kanaky and Indonesian rule in West Papua.

    “Both these countries should withdraw their military and prepare to hand over executive power to the indigenous citizens of Kanaky and West Papua.”

    Nouméa rioting ‘unsurprising’
    Delahunty said that the rioting last week against the French authorities in Kanaky New Caledonia was “completely unsurprising” as the threats to an independent future by pushing through a a constitutional electoral bill to include more non-indigenous residents of Kanaky had caused outrage.

    “Much like West Papua the colonial control of resources and government in Kanaky is oppressive and has created sustained resistance,” she said.

    “Peace without justice maybe be temporarily restored but our government needs to call on France to do more than dialogue for the resumption of French control.

    “Kanaky and West Papua deserve to be free.”

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • ‘France lost the plot’ – journalist David Robie on Kanaky New Caledonia riots

    By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist

    Liberation “must come” for Kanaky New Caledonia, says one of the few New Zealand journalists who have worked consistently on stories across the French Pacific territories.

    Journalist David Robie was arrested at gunpoint by French police in January 1987, and is no stranger to civil unrest in New Caledonia.

    Writing his first articles about the Pacific from Paris in 1974 on French nuclear testing when working for Agence France-Presse, Robie became a freelance journalist in the 1980s, working for Radio Australia, Islands Business, The Australian, Pacific Islands Monthly, Radio New Zealand and other media.

    The Asia Pacific Report editor, who has been on the case for 50 years now, arrived at his interview with RNZ Pacific with a bag of books packed with images and stories from his days in the field.

    “I did get arrested twice [in Kanaky New Caledonia], in fact, but the first time was actually at gunpoint which was slightly unnerving,” Robie explained.

    “They accused me of being a spy.”

    David Robie standing with Kanak pro-independence activists and two Australian journalists at Touho, northern New Caledonia, while on assignment during the FLNKS boycott of the 1984 New Caledonian elections. (David is standing with cameras strung around his back).
    Dr David Robie standing with Kanak pro-independence activists and two Australian journalists at Touho, northern New Caledonia, while on assignment during the FLNKS boycott of the 1984 New Caledonian elections. (Robie is standing with cameras strung around his back). Image: Wiken Books/Back Cover

    Liberation ‘must come’
    Robie said liberation “must come” for Kanaky New Caledonia.

    “It’s really three decades of hard work by a lot of people to build, sort of like a future for New Caledonia, which is part of the Pacific rather than part of France,” Robie said.

    He said France has had three Prime Ministers since 2020 and none of them seem to have any “real affinity” for indigenous issues, particularly in the South Pacific, in contrast to some previous leaders.

    “From 2020 onwards, basically, France lost the plot,” after Édouard Philippe was in office, Robie said.

    He called the current situation a “real tragedy” and believed New Caledonia was now more polarised than ever before.

    “France has betrayed the aspirations of the indigenous Kanak people.”

    Robie said the whole spirit of the Nouméa Accord was to lead Kanaky towards self determination.

    New Caledonia on UN decolonisation list
    New Caledonia is listed under the United Nations as a territory to be decolonised — reinstated on 2 December 1986.

    “Progress had been made quite well with the first two votes on self determination, the two referendums on independence, where there’s a slightly higher and reducing opposition.”

    In 2018, 43.6 percent voted in favour of independence with an 81 percent voter turnout. Two years later 46.7 percent were in favour with a voter turnout of 85.7 percent, but 96.5 percent voted against independence in 2021, with a voter turnout of just 43.8 percent.

    Robie labelled the third vote a “complete write off”.

    Blood on their Banner: Nationalist Struggles in the South Pacific
    Dr David Robie’s book Blood on their Banner: Nationalist Struggles in the South Pacific, the Philippines edition. Image: APR

    France maintains it was legitimate, despite first insisting on holding the third vote a year earlier than originally scheduled, and in spite of pleas from indigenous Kanak leaders to postpone the vote so they could properly bury and mourn the many members of their communities who died as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.

    Robie said France was now taking a deliberate step to “railroad” the indigenous vote in Kanaky New Caledonia.

    He said the latest “proposed amendment” to the constitution would give thousands more non-indigenous people voting rights.

    “[The new voters would] completely swamp indigenous people,” Robie said.

    ‘Hope’ and other options
    Robie said there “was hope yet”, despite France’s betrayal of the Kanaks over self-determination and independence, especially over the past three years.

    French President Emmanuel Macron is under increasing pressure to scrap proposed constitutional reform by Pacific leaders which sparked riots in New Caledonia.

    Pacific leaders and civil society groups have affirmed their support for New Caledonia’s path to independence.

    Robie backed that call. He said there were options, including an indefinite deferment of the final stage, or Macron could use his presidential veto.

    “So [I’m] hopeful that something like that will happen. There certainly has to be some kind of charismatic change to sort out the way things are at the moment.”

    “Charismatic change” could be on its way with talk of a dialogue mission.

    One of Dr David Robie's books, Och Världen Blundar ("And the World Closed its Eyes") - the Swedish edition of his 1989 Blood on their Banner book.
    A masked Kanak militant near La Foa in western Grande Terre island during the 1980s . . . this photo is from the cover of the Swedish edition of David Robie’s 1989 book Blood on their Banner: Nationalist Struggles in the South Pacific. Image: Lydia Lewis/RNZ Pacific

    Having Édouard Philippe — who has always said he had grown a strong bond with New Caledonia when he was in office until 2020 — on the mission would be “a very positive move”, said Robie.

    “Because what really is needed now is some kind of consensus,” he said.

    ‘We don’t want to be like the Māori in NZ’
    New Caledonia could still have a constructive “partnership” with France, just like the Cook Islands has with New Zealand, Robie said.

    “The only problem is that the French government doesn’t want to listen,” New Caledonia presidential spokesperson Charles Wea said.

    “You cannot stop the Kanak people from claiming freedom in their own country.”

    Despite the calls, Wea said concerns were setting in that Kanak people would “become a minority in their own country”.

    “We [Kanak people] are afraid to be like Māori in New Zealand. We are afraid to be like Aboriginal people in Australia.”

    He said those fears were why it was so important the controversial constitutional amendments did not go any further.

    Robie said while Kanaks were already a minority in their own country, there had been a pretty close parity under the Nouméa Accord.

    Vote a ‘retrograde step’
    “Bear in mind, a lot of French people who’ve lived in New Caledonia for a long time, believe in independence as well,” he said.

    But it was the “constitutional reform” that was the sticking point, something Robie refused to call a “reform”, describing as “a very retrograde step”.

    In 1998, there was “goodwill” though the Nouméa accord.

    “The only people who could participate in New Caledonian elections, as opposed to the French state as a whole, were indigenous Kanaks and those who had been living in New Caledonia prior to 1998,” something France brought in at the time.

    Robie said a comparison can be drawn “much more with Australia”, rather than Aotearoa New Zealand.

    “Kanak people resisting French control a century and a half ago were executed by the guillotine,” he said.

    To Robie, Aotearoa was probably the better example of what New Caledonia could be.

    “But you have to recall that New Caledonia began colonial life just like Australia, a penal colony,” he said.

    Robie explained how Algerian fighters were shipped off to New Caledonia, Vietnamese fighters were also sent during the Vietnam War, among other people from other minority groups.

    “A lot of people think it’s French and Kanak. It’s not. It’s a lot more mixed than that and a lot more complicated.”

    The media and the blame game
    As Robie explained the history, another issue became apparent: the lack of media interest and know-how to cover such events from Aotearoa New Zealand.

    He said he had been disappointed to see many mainstream outlets glossing over history and focusing on the stranded Kiwis and fighting, which he said was significant, but needed context.

    He said this lack of built-up knowledge within newsrooms and an apparent issue of “can’t be bothered, or it’s too problematic,” was projecting the indigenous population as the bad guys.

    “There’s a projection that basically ‘Oh, well, they’re young people… looting and causing fires and that sort of thing’, they don’t get an appreciation of just how absolutely frustrated young people feel. It’s 50 percent of unemployment as a result of the nickel industry collapse, you know,” Robie explained.

    When it came to finger pointing, he believed the field activist movement CCAT did not intend for all of this to happen.

    “Once the protests reached a level of anger and frustration, all hell broke loose,” said Robie.

    “But they [CCAT] have been made the scapegoats.

    “Whereas the real culprits are the French government, and particularly the last three prime ministers in my view.”

    Dr David Robie’s updated book on the New Caledonia troubles, news media and Pacific decolonisation issues was published in 2014, Don’t Spoil My Beautiful Face: Media, Mayhem and Human Rights in the Pacific (Little Island Press).

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • NZ’s first New Caledonia evacuation flight lands in Auckland

    By Maia Ingoe, RNZ News journalist

    A NZ Defence Force plane carrying 50 New Zealanders evacuated from New Caledonia landed at Auckland International Airport last night.

    The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it would be working with France and Australia to ensure the safe departure of several evacuation flights amid civil unrest in the island state.

    The efforts came as RNZ Pacific’s French Pacific correspondent Patrick Decloitre reported that President Emmanuel Macron would be flying to New Caledonia within hours to install a “dialogue mission” in the French Pacific dependency in the wake of violent riots for the past eight days.

    The first flight took off from the capital of Nouméa after a short turnaround at Magenta local airport at 7pm, and landed in Auckland at about 10pm.

    Those arriving to Auckland Airport on the NZ Defence Force plane said they were relieved to be back.

    Many reunited with loved ones, while others were sent onto hospital for urgent medical treatment.

    Some of the passengers on the special flight out of New Caledonia, after they had landed at Auckland Airport.
    Some of the passengers on the special flight out of New Caledonia, after they had landed at Auckland Airport. Image: RNZ/Marika Khabazi

    Chris and Mike Riley were arriving back from New Caledonia from what was meant to be a week-long trip.

    ‘Fireworks and gunfire’
    Chris Riley said they heard lots of explosions, fireworks and gunfire from where they were.

    “We were in a lovely place actually, it was quite peaceful, but we were trapped because we couldn’t get through because of all the troubles that were there,” she said.

    Mike Riley said they were both relieved to be home.

    “We’re not in a hurry to go anywhere apart from Kerikeri,” he said.

    Carl, who did not provide a last name, was in a tourist area of New Caledonia for the past two weeks, which he said was sheltered from the riots.

    He said it felt great to get on the Defence Force flight.

    “It was a bit of a different type of trip back to New Zealand, but it was fun.”

    Some of the passengers on the special flight out of New Caledonia, after they had landed at Auckland Airport.
    Some of the passengers on the special flight out of New Caledonia, after they had landed at Auckland Airport. Image: RNZ/Marika Khabazi

    La Tontouta still closed
    Noumea’s La Tontouta International Airport remains closed.

    Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said the New Zealanders on the flight would have had a security escort to the airport.

    Pacific Island nations were among those which had sought New Zealand’s help to evacuate citizens, he said.

    Peters said there would be more flights over the next few days to get all 250 New Zealanders out of the French Pacific territory, which has been in the grip of riots and political unrest between anti- and pro-independence groups.

    He hoped another flight would leave for New Caledonia this morning.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Gordon Campbell: Israel’s political split, and the New Caledonia crisis

    COMMENTARY: By Gordon Campbell

    The split opening up in Israel’s “War Cabinet” is not just between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his long-term rival Benny Gantz. It is actually a three-way split, set in motion by Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

    It was Gallant’s open criticism of Netanyahu that finally flushed Gantz out into the open.

    What Gallant wanted from Netanyahu was a plan for how Gaza is to be governed once the fighting ends and an assurance that the Israel Defence Force will not end up being Gaza’s de facto civil administrator.

    To that end, Gallant wanted to know what Palestinian entity (presumably the Palestinian Authority) would be part of that future governing arrangement, and on what terms.

    To Gallant, that is essential information to ensure that the IDF (for which he is ultimately responsible) will not be bogged down in Gaza for the duration of a forever war. By voicing his concerns out loud, Gallant pushed Gantz into stating publicly what his position is on the same issues.

    What Gantz came up with was a set of six strategic “goals” on which Netanyahu has to provide sufficient signs of progress by June 8, or else Gantz will resign from the war Cabinet.

    Maybe, perhaps. Gantz could still find wiggle room for himself to stay on, depending on the state of the political/military climate in three weeks time.

    The Gantz list
    For what they’re worth, Gantz’s six points are:

    1. The return of the hostages from Gaza;
    2. The overthrow of Hamas rule, and de-militarisation in Gaza;
    3. The establishment of a joint US, European, Arab, and Palestinian administration that will manage Gaza’s civilian affairs, and form the basis for a future alternative governing authority;
    4. The repatriation of residents of north Israel who were evacuated from their homes, as well as the rehabilitation of Gaza border communities;
    5. The promotion of normalisation with Saudi Arabia; and
    6. The adoption of an outline for military service for all Israeli citizens. [Gantz has already tabled a bill to end the current exemption of Hadadim (i.e. conservative Jews) from the draft. This issue is a tool to split Netanyahu away from his extremist allies. One of the ironies of the Gaza conflict is that the religious extremists egging it on have ensured that their own sons and daughters aren’t doing any of the fighting.]

    Almost instantly, this list drew a harsh response from Netanyahu’s’ office:

    “The conditions set by Benny Gantz are laundered words whose meaning is clear: the end of the war and a defeat for Israel, the abandonment of most of the hostages, leaving Hamas-rule intact and the establishment of a Palestinian state.

    “Our soldiers did not fall in vain and certainly not for the sake of replacing Hamastan with Fatahstan,” the PM’s Office added.

    In reality, Netanyahu has little or no interest in what a post-war governing arrangement in Gaza might look like. His grip on power — and his immunity from criminal prosecution — depends on a forever war, in which any surviving Palestinians will have no option but to submit to Gaza being re-settled by Israeli extremists. (Editor: ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan has today filed an application for arrest warrants for crimes against humanity by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, along with three Hamas leaders for war crimes.)

    Gantz, no respite
    Palestinians have no reason to hope a Gantz-led government would offer them any respite. Gantz was the IDF chief of staff during two previous military assaults on Gaza in 2012 and 2014 that triggered accusations of war crimes.

    While Gantz may be open to some minor role for the Palestinian Authority (PA) in helping to run Gaza in future, this would require the PA to be willing to duplicate in Gaza the same abjectly compliant security role it currently performs on behalf of Israel on the West Bank.

    So far, the PA has shown no enthusiasm for helping to run Gaza, given that any collaborators would be sitting ducks for Palestinian retribution.

    In sum, Gantz is a centrist only when compared to the wingnut extremists (e.g. Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich) with whom Netanyahu currently consorts. In any normal democracy, such public dissent by two senior Cabinet Ministers crucial to government stability would have led directly to new elections being called.

    Not so in Israel, at least not yet.

    Counting the cost in Nouméa
    A few days ago, the Chamber of commerce in Noumea estimated the economic cost of the ongoing unrest in New Caledonia — both directly and to rebuild the country’s trashed infrastructure — will be in excess of 200 million euros (NZ$356 million).

    Fixing the physical infrastructure though, may be the least of it.

    The rioting was triggered by the French authorities preparing to sign off on an expansion of the eligibility criteria for taking part in decisive votes on the territory’s future. Among other things, this measure would have diluted the Kanak vote, by extending the franchise to French citizens who had been resident in New Caledonia for ten years.

    This thorny issue of voter eligibility has been central to disputes in the territory for at least three decades.

    This time around, the voting roll change being mooted came hard on the heels of a third independence referendum in 2021 that had been boycotted by Kanaks, who objected to it being held while the country was still recovering from the covid pandemic.

    With good reason, the Kanak parties linked the boycotted 2021 referendum — which delivered a 96 percent vote against independence — to the proposed voting changes. Both are being taken as evidence of a hard rightwards shift by local authorities and their political patrons in France.

    An inelegant inégalité
    On paper, New Caledonia looks like a relatively wealthy country, with an annual per capita income of US$33,000 __ $34,000 estimated for 2024. That’s not all that far behind New Zealand’s $US42,329 figure, and well in excess of neighbours in Oceania like Fiji ($6,143) Vanuatu $3,187) and even French Polynesia ($21,615).

    In fact, the GDP per capita figures serve to mask the extremes of inequality wrought since 1853 by French colonialism. The country’s apparent prosperity has been reliant on the mining of nickel, and on transfer payments from mainland France, and both these sources of wealth are largely sealed off from the indigenous population;

    The New Caledonian economy suffers from a lack of productivity gains, insufficient competitiveness and strong income inequalities… Since 2011, economic growth has slowed down due to the fall in nickel prices… The extractive sector developed relatively autonomously with regard to the rest of the economy, absorbing most of the technical capabilities. Apart from nickel, few export activities managed to develop, particularly because of high costs..[associated with] the narrowness of the local market, and with [the territory’s] geographic remoteness.

    No doubt, tourism will be hammered by the latest unrest. Yet even before the riots, annual tourism visits to New Caledonia had always lagged well behind the likes of Fiji, and French Polynesia.

    Over the past 50 years, the country’s steeply unequal economic base has been directly manipulated by successive French governments, who have been more intent on maintaining the status quo than on establishing a sustainable re-balance of power.

    History repeats
    The violent unrest that broke out between 1976-1989 culminated in the killing by French military forces of several Kanak leaders (including the prominent activist Eloï Machoro) while a hostage-taking incident on Ouvea in 1988 directly resulted in the deaths of 19 Kanaks and two French soldiers.

    Tragically in 1989, internal rifts within the Kanak leadership cost the lives of the pre-eminent pro-independence politician Jean-Marie Tjibaou and his deputy.

    Eventually, the Matignon Accords that Tjibaou had signed a year before his death ushered in a decade of relative stability. Subsequently, the Noumea Accords a decade later created a blueprint for a 20-year transition to a more equitable outcome for the country’s various racial and political factions.

    Of the 270,000 people who comprise the country’s population, some 41 percent belong to the Kanak community.

    About 24 percent identify as European. This category includes (a) relatively recent arrivals from mainland France employed in the public service or on private sector contracts, and (b) the politically conservative “caldoches” whose forebears have kept arriving as settlers since the 19th century, including an influx of settlers from Algeria after France lost that colony in 1962, after a war of independence.

    A further 7.5 percent identify as “Caledonian” but again, these people are largely of European origin. Some 11.3% of the population are of mixed race. Under the census rules, people can self-identify with multiple ethnic groups.

    In sum, the fracture lines of race, culture, economic wealth and deprivation crisscross the country, with the Kanak community being those most in need, and with Kanak youth in particular suffering from limited access to jobs and opportunity.

    Restoring whose ‘order’?
    The riots have been the product of the recent economic downturn, ethnic tensions and widely-held Kanak opposition to French rule. French troops have now been sent into the territory in force, initially to re-open the international airport.

    It is still a volatile situation. As Le Monde noted in its coverage of the recent rioting, New Caledonia is known for its very high number of firearms in relation to the size of the population.

    If illegal weapons are counted, some 100,000 weapons are said to be circulating in a territory of 270,000 inhabitants.

    Even allowing for some people having multiple weapons, New Caledonia has, on average, a gun for every three or four people. France by contrast (according to Franceinfo in 2021) had only 5.4 million weapons within a population of more than 67 million, or one gun for every 12 people.

    The restoration of “order” in New Caledonia has the potential for extensive armed violence. After the dust settles, the divisive issue of who should be allowed to vote in New Caledonia, and under what conditions, will remain.

    Forging on with the voting reforms regardless, is now surely no longer an option.

    Republished with permission from Gordon Campbell’s column in partnership with Scoop.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Plane heading for New Caledonia to bring NZ visitors home

    A New Zealand government plane is heading to New Caledonia to assist with bringing New Zealanders home.

    Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today confirmed it was the first in a series of proposed flights.

    Peters said the flight would carry around 50 passengers with the most pressing needs from Nouméa to Auckland.

    Passengers for subsequent flights will be prioritised by consular staff.

    “New Zealanders in New Caledonia have faced a challenging few days — and bringing them home has been an urgent priority for the government,” Peters said.

    “We want to acknowledge the support of relevant authorities, both in Paris and Nouméa, in facilitating this flight.”

    Peters said the situation in New Caledonia was “dynamic” and New Zealand officials were working with French counterparts and other partners, like Australia, to learn what was needed to ensure safety of their people there.

    “In cooperation with France and Australia, we are working on subsequent flights in coming days.”

    Update SafeTravel details
    Peters said New Zealanders in New Caledonia were urged to make sure their details on SafeTravel were up to date.

    This would allow officials to be in touch with further advice.

    Meanwhile, a New Zealander desperate to return home said it was heartening to know that a flight was on its way.

    Barbara Graham, who was due to fly home from a research trip in New Caledonia on Monday, had been on holiday there with her husband and six-year-old son last month.

    She said she was desperate to get home to them, but knew others were in greater need.

    “It’s really really heartening to hear that the flights have started and I’m extremely pleased they’re prioritising the people that really really need to get home, you know parents and children.

    “I can’t imagine what it would’ve been like if my son had still been here in this situation.”

    A nearby bakery was selling rationed bread to residents and visitors, Graham said.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Liberation for New Caledonia’s Kanak people ‘must come’, says educator

    RNZ Pacific

    A New Zealand author, journalist and media educator who has covered the Asia-Pacific region since the 1970s says liberation “must come” for Kanaky/New Caledonia.

    Professor David Robie sailed on board Greenpeace’s flagship Rainbow Warrior until it was bombed by French secret agents in New Zealand in July 1985 and wrote the book Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior.

    He has also been arrested at gun point in New Caledonia while on a mission reporting on the indigenous Kanak uprising in the 1980s and wrote the book Blood on their Banner: Nationalist Struggles in the South Pacific.

    The Asia Pacific Report editor told RNZ Pacific’s Lydia Lewis France was “torpedoing” any hopes of Kanaky independence.

    Professor David Robie
    Professor David Robie before retirement as director of the Pacific Media Centre at AUT in 2020. Image: AUT

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Kiwis trapped in Nouméa: Air NZ won’t fly from New Caledonia for days

    RNZ Pacific

    New Caledonia’s Tontouta International Airport remains closed, and Air New Zealand’s next scheduled flight is on Saturday — although it is not ruling out adding extra services.

    Air NZ’s Captain David Morgan said on Monday evening flights would only resume when they were assured of the security of the airport and safe access for passengers and staff.

    Later, the airline said its “next scheduled service is Saturday, May 25. However, we will continue to review this and may add capacity when the airport reopens”.

    AirCalin said tonight Tontouta airport would be closed until May 23.

    The capital descended into chaos last Monday, after riots protesting against a controversial new bill that would allow French residents who have lived there for more than 10 years to vote — which critics say will weaken the indigenous Kanak vote.

    At least six people have been killed, and more than 230 people have been arrested.

    A NZ Defence Force Hercules is on standby to bring 250 Kiwis home, but it is awaiting clearance from French authorities.

    Clearing roadblocks
    Hundreds of armed French police have been using armoured vehicles to clear protesters and roadblocks between the international airport and Nouméa.

    The risky route — which stretches for about 50 km north of the capital — is the key reason why the airport remains closed.

    Emma Roylands, a Kiwi studying at the University of New Caledonia, said the nights on campus had been stressful.

    “We’ve set up a sense of a roster, or a shift, that watches over the night time for the university, and this high-strung suspicion from every noise, every bang, that is that someone coming to the university,” she said.

    Roylands said she was not sure if the French police would be able to successfully clear the main road to the airport.

    “Clearing the road for an hour north seems like an impossible task with these rioters,” she said.

    Shula Guse from Canterbury, who was on holiday with her partner and friends, said many shops were running low on stock.

    ‘Nothing on the shelves’
    “The shops are closed or if they’re open they have empty shelves, the local corner dairy has nothing on the shelves,” she said.

    Guse said she managed to buy some flour and yeast from a local pizza shop and had started making her own bread.

    She said her group had flights rebooked for tomorrow — but there had been no confirmation from Air New Zealand on whether it would go ahead.

    Guse, whose friends were running low on heart medication, said they would have to make other plans if it fell through.

    “When today is finished, and we haven’t heard any news, then we might start tomorrow looking for more medication, more food, just to make sure we have enough.”

    The Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) said the NZDF Hercules was ready, as soon as French authorities gave permission.

    When asked whether the Navy would be deployed, MFAT said its focus was on flight repatriation.

    RNZ asked whether New Zealand would consider helping evacuate people from other Pacific countries who were stranded in New Caledonia. MFAT said it had been engaging with Pacific partners about the crisis.

    Foreign Minister Winston Peters said he was unable to put a timeframe on how soon New Zealanders could return.

    He said they were continuing to explore possible options, including working alongside Australia and other partners to help get New Zealanders home.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.