France's Attempt to Create a New State of New Caledonia Fails

AUTHOR: M.J. GDNUS

An independence group is moving to overturn a deal that Paris had hoped would ease tensions in the Pacific island chain.
The main pro-independence alliance in the French territory of New Caledonia last night officially rejected a proposal led by Paris to create a new status for the Pacific archipelago, effectively sinking the agreement—unless a major turnaround occurs.
The agreement, signed last month, envisioned New Caledonia becoming a new state, though not fully independent from France. While it would remain under the French constitution, New Caledonia would gain powers closer to statehood. It could control its own foreign affairs, and the population would hold both French and Caledonian citizenship, instead of just French, as is currently the case.
The deal was signed in a suburb of Paris by representatives of both pro- and anti-independence Caledonians, including a negotiator from the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS).
However, the agreement did not include provisions for a new referendum on New Caledonian independence— a key breaking point for the FLNKS political bureau, despite their negotiator having previously agreed to the deal.
Dominique Fochi, a bureau member, said at a press conference that the agreement was “incompatible with the foundations and achievements of [FLNKS’s] struggle.”
New Caledonia is facing an economic crisis, intercommunal tensions, and political violence, while increasingly becoming the target of foreign interference—especially from Azerbaijan. The territory is strategically important for France due to its high levels of natural resources, including nickel, and its role as a gateway to the Indo-Pacific.
Tensions peaked last spring when riots erupted over a planned electoral reform that would reduce the political weight of the indigenous Kanak population by allowing recently arrived Caledonians to vote in local elections. Fourteen people were killed, and property damage was estimated at over 2 billion euros.
Marie-Pierre Goyetche, another bureau member, warned that FLNKS would not allow the state to “push through” the agreement and called for “peaceful” resistance to any such attempt.
French Overseas Minister Manuel Valls predicted the rejection of the agreement in a Facebook post on Sunday, saying he regretted that FLNKS had turned its back on a “historic compromise.”
Valls also said he would travel to New Caledonia next week in a final attempt to salvage the deal, warning that the state would remain “the guarantor of justice for all and the upholding of democracy, which cannot survive under the threat of violence.”