Understanding the Caledonian crisis : A response from the French Ambassador
Vanuatu Daily Post, 26 juin 2024
On Friday June 7, 2024, several hundred people demonstrated in front of the French Embassy in Vanuatu regarding the situation in New Caledonia. France understands and respects the legitimate concerns of the people of Vanuatu regarding the situation in New Caledonia. In this article, I would like to respond to the demands expressed in the petition that the president of the Malvatumauri, who led the march, submitted to us on June 7.
Firstly, decolonisation cannot be reduced to independence. As the relevant resolutions of the United Nations Organisation (UN) (res. 1541 and 2625) remind us, decolonisation is first and foremost self-determination : it means letting the people choose what they prefer, and this can be the creation of an independent state, integration with an independent state, free association or any other formula chosen by the people. They alone must decide what they wish to do with their future.
And this is precisely what the French State has been accompanying in New Caledonia for the past 36 years : securing a process of self-determination, the organisation and the conduct of which have been commended by the United Nations Decolonisation Committee called C24, and two auditing reports.
In 1998, the Nouméa Accord – negotiated between pro and anti-independence parties – provided for a high degree of autonomy for New Caledonia, with gradual and irreversible transfers of powers to establish shared sovereignty. The Accord was adopted by popular consultation in New Caledonia with 72 % of positive votes. As provided for by the Accord, the State organised up to three self-determination referendums, if the previous ones had not resulted in a pro-independence vote.
The process provided voters with repeated occasions to cast their ballots, and political stakeholders to act (the local Congress was the one responsible to call for the organisation of the 2nd and 3rd referendums). Repeatedly, a majority of New Caledonians on a special electoral roll opposed independence : 56.67% of voters in 2018 (with a 81.01% turnout), 53.26% in 2020 (with a 85.69% turnout), and 96.50% in 2021 (with a 43.87% turnout). Votes were organised in the presence of the United Nations.
In accordance with democratic principles and the constant will of the people, who have been consulted three times since 2018, and who have therefore been able to exercise their right to self-determination, New Caledonia remains part of France.
Today, as a result of the decolonisation process engaged in 1988, New-Caledonia enjoys a high degree of autonomy, with the local Government and the provinces having all powers except those of a sovereign nature (defense, security, currency, for instance) and those they have not asked to be transferred (rules governing the administration of local authorities, higher education and research, audiovisual communication).
Secondly, what can one say to those who claim that the process described above is invalid because the last referendum was partially boycotted ? Boycotting the referendum was the choice of the independentist parties, but it does not invalidate the referendum. The legitimacy of this vote has not been called into question by the UN and the independentist parties participated to the general elections organised right after.
Thirdly, what can one say to those who believe that the process described above is invalid because only the Kanaks should have taken part, as the only legitimate people ? That the 1998 Nouméa Accord – which was signed by all stakeholders, including the pro-independence parties – establishes the existence of a dual legitimacy : not only that of the Kanak people as the first occupants, whose identity and cultural heritage have been recognised and promoted, but also that of other communities “who live in the territory [and] have acquired, through their participation in the building of New Caledonia, a legitimacy to live there and to continue to contribute to its development. They are essential to its social equilibrium and to the functioning of its economy and social institutions”.
This is an important point : it means that, together with the Kanaks (41.2% of the population according to the 2019 census), not only Europeans (24%), but also Wallisians and Futunans (8.3%) and many other communities (Tahitians, Indonesians, Ni-Vanuatu, Vietnamese, Chinese, etc. accounting together for 8%) have made Caledonia what it is today.
The Nouméa Accord also presents decolonisation as an objective consisting in founding “a new sovereignty, shared in a common destiny”. Common, that is, for all the above-mentioned populations, together.
And that’s only fair, because a New-Caledonian, who has always lived and worked there and contributed to New Caledonia’s development, is fully part of this community, no matter the origins of his or her ancestors.
Fourthly, with regard to discrimination, there are indeed discrepancies, particularly in terms of standard of living, access to employment and education. This is a statistically documented fact, and the State has long been taking steps to correct it, notably through the redistribution of tax revenues between provinces ; executive training (for which the state has provided 90% of the 6 million euros in annual funding since 1998) ; a mining and metallurgy policy (contrary to popular belief, the French state has no jurisdiction over the extraction, processing or export of nickel ; these powers have all been transferred to local authorities ; but it is the State that is absorbing the losses of the New Caledonian mining industry : since 2016, it has paid out more than 700 million euros in aid to the nickel industry) ; financial aid for business start-ups ; a land policy that has considerably increased the surface area of Kanak land ; and the defense and promotion of Kanak culture, as demonstrated by the use of local Kanak languages in the education system or the creation of the Tjibaou Cultural Center, which today remains the territory’s leading cultural institution.
These measures have produced results – the GDP/capita gap has narrowed and a Kanak middle and higher classes have developed – but unbalances remain, as President Macron acknowledged on May 24 : “rebalancing has not reduced economic and social inequalities, they have even increased”. While major progress was achieved when it comes to economic and social progress or access to public service, we need to do better. One must note, however, that this public policy issue is not unique to New Caledonia.
In any case, fires, looting, blockades and violence will not solve the problem. On the contrary, by reducing several decades of economic development to ashes, they have undermined the social and economic rebalancing efforts made in favor of the Kanak populations, and destroyed thousands of jobs.
Fifthly, the petition calls for “the immediate cessation of military operations” and “the withdrawal of troops”. I must state clearly that there are no military operations in New Caledonia : there are law enforcement operations by internal security forces (police and gendarmerie), to protect the population and public infrastructure, strictly respecting the principle of proportionate use of force. The rioters are armed and have robbed several gun shops. Their roadblocks paralysed certain neighborhoods and cut off access to the international airport.
Some inhabitants were short of food and medicines and no longer had access to medical care. More than nine hundred businesses have been destroyed or vandalised, thousands of jobs have been lost and the damages are estimated at over a billion euros. Law offenders are being dealt with by independent courts following due legal process, therefore there is no reason to call for “international independent investigations”. Had the State – whose primary responsibility is to protect the population – not rapidly deployed reinforcements, there would have been many more victims, and the socio-economic damage would have been even greater with more lasting effects.
In conclusion, we must be careful not to ethnicise the events in New Caledonia. Many articles, commentaries and fake news portraying the riots as one community against another just simplify and distort reality. Since 1988 and the first Matignon-Oudinot agreements, followed by the Nouméa agreement in 1998, a continuous dialogue has been carried out leading to the setup of new institutions, the transfer of meaningful power to local governing bodies, the acknowledgement of the Kanak identity and promotion of Kanak culture, and to policies dedicated to the social and economic rebalancing.
Our priority is now to resume dialogue as the political path remains to be invented to continue building this “common destiny” in a more inclusive and peaceful way. France will continue to work in the coming months with regional partners including Vanuatu, the Melanesian Spearhead Group, and the Pacific Islands Forum, in order to achieve this dialogue essential to the future of New Caledonia.
