French President Emmanuel Macron has a lot on his plate. European elections are coming and his party is expected to lose. Preparations for the Paris Olympics are in full swing. A manhunt is on for a criminal who shocked the nation with his brazen and fatal escape from prison.
The last place many expected Macron to be was on a plane to a French territory in the Pacific where riots had broken out all week. But he arrived in New Caledonia on Thursday with three ministers on a mission to heal and listen in a region where many hold him personally responsible for the unrest.
“I come here with great respect and humility, determined to work to restore peace,” he said upon arrival.
Riots erupted last week over a possible vote by the National Assembly in Paris on extending voting rights in the region. Many local indigenous people fear that the law will hinder the long process of independence.
Macron plans to meet with local officials and civil society activists, thank police and start a round of dialogue, before quickly hopping on a plane back to mainland France, more than 10,000 miles away.
In many ways, this trip was Macron’s classic. He felt that any dispute, no matter how intense, could be resolved through private dialogue with him. But given local distrust of the government, many viewed his visit as not just short-lived but short-lived.
“He is responsible for the problem,” said Jean-François Merle, an expert on New Caledonia at the Jean Jaurès Foundation. Advised former Prime Minister Michel Rocard during the region’s delicate peace negotiations in the 1980s. “I’m not sure there’s a political commitment from all sides to talk.”
Last week, riots broke out in New Caledonia, a small archipelago with a population of about 270,000, resulting in the country’s worst violence in decades: six people were killed, many were injured, and about 400 businesses were damaged, many of them set ablaze Caused.
French authorities in faraway Paris declared a state of emergency in the region and sent hundreds of police officers to try to restore peace. On Wednesday, Macron said in New Caledonia that security forces would remain present “as long as necessary” but that the state of emergency “should not be extended”.
“This visit comes too late,” said Martial Foucault, a political science professor who heads the French Overseas Territories section at Sciences Po in Paris. “No one expected Macron to go there.”
The discontent dates back to 2021, when Mr Macron insisted on holding the territory’s third independence referendum despite pleas from leaders of the Kanak indigenous community to delay the vote due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many communities have been devastated by the virus, and local custom prohibits political activity during periods of mourning.
Eventually, Kanak leaders called for a boycott of the vote. They have since refused to accept the results, with 97% of voters wanting the territory to remain in France but only 44% of the population voting. Previous referendums showed much higher voter turnouts, with 57% and 53% supporting France.
Macron and his government viewed the vote as decisive, ending the long-simmering independence debate. He also highlighted the role of France’s foothold in the Indo-Pacific as a bulwark against the expansion of Chinese influence.
It is unclear whether independence activists will meet with Macron during his brief visit this week. Many refused to meet France’s interior minister in February; a video conference with him last week was canceled due to a “lack of people willing to participate,” according to AFP.
In 1853, the French established New Caledonia as a penal colony and established a Explicit policies to turn indigenous populations into minorities.
Tensions and violence between pro-independence militants and loyalists in the 1980s culminated in hostage-taking, casualties and the subsequent signing of a peace agreement known as the Matignon Accords.
This agreement, and the subsequent Noumea Accords, gradually transferred most political power to the Kanak community, formally recognized their culture and customs, and held three referendums on independence.
As the new century dawned, the independence referendum vote was postponed for another twenty years. French authorities agreed to freeze the electoral roll so that those who had recently arrived in New Caledonia and were considered more likely to support French rule could not influence the vote.
For pro-independence forces, last week’s parliamentary vote to extend voting rights to people who have lived in New Caledonia for more than 10 years threatens a delicate balance. .
The French government believes that the bill is a much-needed solution for the democratic process. Local Kanak leaders believe this was a protection measure removed to prevent them from becoming a smaller minority on their land.
Treppide said Mr Macron could speak his mind but without a commitment to block the passage of new laws and draft a new referendum, he did not expect any Kanak leader to listen. “Macron’s political amnesia and his political movement are irresponsible,” he said.
Mr Treppide added that the government was not facing a social protest movement typical of France, or even similar to the riots that broke out across the country last summer: “He was facing a people who were fighting for decolonization and would never back down. .
