The French government is trying to renew dialogue between New Caledonia’s pro and anti-independence groups. Negotiations broke down after a third referendum in 2021 rejected full sovereignty for the Pacific Ocean island group.
The French took over New Caledonia in 1853, first as a penal colony. Over the years its indigenous Kanak population was outnumbered by descendants of European settlers.
As the movement for independence grew in the 1970s and 80s, so did the violence, culminating in the Ouvéa grotto massacre in May 1988 in which 19 Kanak militants and two soldiers died.
In June 1988, the Matignon accords were signed between Paris and representatives of both the pro- and anti-independence factions, bringing an end to more than 140 years of colonial rule and a decade of violence.
This week in Paris, a room in the National Assembly was ceremoniously named after rival leaders – loyalist Jacques Lafleur and Jean-Marie Tjibaou of the pro-independence FLNKS movement.
The president of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet paid tribute to the two men, calling them “artisans of peace”.
No family photo
Pro- and anti-independence delegations have been in Paris for discussions on the institutional status of the archipelago after a majority voted to remain French in a third and final referendum in December 2021.
No representatives of the pro-independence delegation attended the ceremony in the National Assembly, nor did any members of Tjibaou’s family. Only two of the loyalist delegation were present.
“We refused to take part in this exercise,” the president of the loyalist Avenir en confiance group in New Caledonia’s congress told the archipelago’s La Première TV station.
"Not because we don’t recognise the people being honoured, on the contrary, but we don’t wish to play in a photo opportunity when the real issue is ‘when will we, pro- and anti-independence groups, finally get round the table with the state and discuss our future together?’”
The Kanak political group FLNKS (Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front) refuses to sit down with the loyalists having rejected the 2021 referendum results.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne therefore held separate meetings with the rival factions on Tuesday.
‘Illegitimate’ referendum
The 1998 Nouméa accords, which laid down the roadmap for the decolonisation process, provided for three referendums on full sovereignty.
The final one, held in December 2021 amid the Covid pandemic, delivered a resounding ‘No’ with 96 percent voting to remain part of France.
But turnout was just 43.9 percent after FLNKS called for a boycott. They had tried in vain to get the referendum postponed arguing the epidemic made it impossible for them to campaign.
“Covid had a big impact on Oceanic peoples, and mourning is a very collective ritual," says New Caledonia specialist Isabelle Merle. "When a Kanak village is in mourning it's impossible to go in there with a megaphone calling on people to go and vote.”
It would have made sense to postpone the referendum until after the 2022 French presidential and legislative elections, she explains, “but the government forced it through" for political reasons.
Among them was a desire to comfort its loyalist electorate ahead of the presidential poll.
"Legally speaking the referendum outcome is defendable but politically it's completely illegitimate," she says.
She regrets the government’s refusal to postpone, not least because the second referendum in 2020 was a close run, with the ‘No’ winning by a margin of less than 10,000 votes.
“Even if the 'No' had won again, the gap would have been smaller, it would have created a power struggle, more interesting discussions, with neither side crushed," she argues.
"A big opportunity was missed and instead we have a political impasse."
While both the government and loyalists consider Caledonians have expressed themselves and consultations are over, FLNKS reject the results and demand further discussions on the process of self-determination.
In Tuesday’s meeting with PM Borne, Roch Wamytan, a leading pro-independence delegate, said substantive talks could begin only after France has outlined the trajectory to full sovereignty.
Questionable neutrality
Paris officially remains neutral on the New Caledonia question and said it would let the people decide their destiny.
But even former PM Jean Castex told the Senate on two occasions that he “strongly wished the Caledonians to choose France”.
Sonia Backès, a leading anti-independence politician, says a solution will be found once all sides sit around the table.
But Backès was also recently named secretary of state for citizenship. "It suggests the government is walking hand in hand with the loyalists,” says Merle.
Key differences
While Paris has described this week's meetings as an important step, the two sides remain far apart on the main issues of self-determination and electoral rolls.
Under the Nouméa Accords voting is largely restricted to indigenous Kanaks and people who took up residency in the territory before 1998.
The restrictions are enshrined in the French constitution; loyalists want it amended to loosen voting restrictions.
In 2019 the group One Heart One Vote, which considers the system discriminatory, turned to the European Court of Human Rights to help restore the vote to the estimated 40,000 people who fail to meet the criteria.
Backès said pro-independence politicians would not take part in next year's provincial elections unless the electoral rolls are opened up.
