Another night of riots in New Caledonia after the vote on the constitutional reform project of the electoral body which provokes the anger of the separatists. Two people died in the last hours.
A person died by gunshot in Nouméa, announced the High Commissioner of the Republic, Louis Le Franc. “Not by a shot from the police or the gendarmerie, but from someone who certainly wanted to defend themselves”, according to him. Another person died this Wednesday.
Louis Le Franc also indicated that the police had carried out 140 arrests in the Nouméa metropolitan area.
Faced with this extremely tense situation, French President Emmanuel Macron convened a defense and national security council on Wednesday morning.
The text plans to open voting in the next provincial elections to all citizens residing in New Caledonia for ten years, i.e. 25,000 more voters. The loyalists are demanding it. But the Kanak separatists demand its withdrawal.
Three referendums between 2018 and 2021
New Caledonia became French in 1853 under the leadership of Emperor Napoleon III, Napoleon’s nephew and heir. It became an overseas territory after World War II, and French citizenship was granted to all Kanaks in 1957.
A peace agreement between the rival factions was reached in 1988. Ten years later, France promised to grant New Caledonia political power and broad autonomy and to hold up to three successive referendums.
The three referendums were organized between 2018 and 2021 and a majority of voters chose to remain within France instead of supporting independence. The pro-independence Kanaks rejected the results of the last referendum in 2021, which they boycotted due to it being held at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
