New Caledonia: Why this French island in the Pacific Ocean is being rocked by violence over a vote held 10,000 miles away

CNN
—

Deadly violence in the French island of New Caledonia continued for a third day on Wednesday, with armed clashes between demonstrators, paramilitary groups and police, and buildings and cars torched in the South Pacific island’s capital. Ta.

At least three people were shot dead in the riots, seen as the worst since the 1980s, and authorities imposed a curfew in the capital Nouméa. It also banned public gatherings, the carrying of weapons and the sale of alcohol, and closed the main airport, usually busy with tourists, to commercial traffic.

The violence is the latest eruption of political tensions that have smoldered for years, between the island’s largely pro-independence indigenous Kanak community, which has long been dissatisfied with Parisian rule, and its homeland. This led to conflict with French residents who opposed cutting ties with the French government.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the French military had mobilized and flown “four more squadrons to restore order.”

Located in the South Pacific bordering Australia, Fiji, and Vanuatu, New Caledonia is a semi-autonomous French territory and one of more than a dozen territories dotted across the Pacific, Caribbean, and Indian Oceans.

On Monday, 10,000 miles (17,000 km) away, the French parliament voted on a bill to amend New Caledonia’s constitution that would give French residents on the island greater voting rights, mainly involving young people. A protest has begun.

On Tuesday, lawmakers overwhelmingly voted in favor of the change.

The move will add thousands of voters to New Caledonia’s electoral register, which has not been updated since the late 1990s. Pro-independence groups say the changes are an attempt to tighten France’s control over the islands.

View this interactive content on CNN.com

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday wrote to New Caledonia’s political leaders to “unequivocally condemn all this violence” and met pro-independence and opposition leaders “in person” in Paris. He called for calm and called for calm.

Macron will chair the Defense and National Security Council on Wednesday, which focuses on violent incidents, the presidential palace said.

The Macron administration has emphasized that France is a Pacific power and is pushing ahead with its pivot to the Indo-Pacific, as China and the United States strengthen their presence in the battle for influence in the strategically important region. There is. New Caledonia is at the center of that plan.

Three people, two men and a woman, were shot dead during the violent protests and looting, all of them Kanak people, said Charles Weir, a spokesman for New Caledonian President Louis Mapou.

Demonstrators in Nouméa also set fire to buildings and cars in defiance of a curfew that was extended until Thursday.

Thick black smoke blanketed the capital on Wednesday morning, according to videos on social media. Images showed burnt out cars, fires in the streets and destroyed and looted stores.

“Some were equipped with hunting rifles that used buckshot as ammunition. Others were equipped with larger rifles and fired bullets,” said Louis Le Franc, the French High Commissioner to New Caledonia. Stated.

More than 140 people were arrested and at least 60 security personnel were injured in clashes between local nationalist groups and French authorities, Le Franc news agency reported.

One Nouméa resident told CNN affiliate Radio New Zealand about panic buying, which was reminiscent of the coronavirus. “There’s a lot of fire, a lot of violence… but it’s better to stay safe at home. There’s a lot of police and military. We want the government to take action for peace,” the source told RNZ on condition of anonymity. Told.

Colonial France took control of New Caledonia in 1853. Then white settlers arrived, and the indigenous Kanak people were victims of harsh segregation for many years. Many indigenous peoples continue to live with high rates of poverty and unemployment to this day.

An explosion of deadly violence in the 1980s ultimately paved the way for the 1998 Nouméa Accords. The agreement was a French promise to give the Kanak community greater political autonomy.

Multiple referenda were held in recent years in 2018, 2020 and 2021 as part of a deal that gave New Caledonian voters the option to leave France. Each referendum was rejected, but the process was marred by a boycott by pro-independence groups and the coronavirus pandemic.

The role of voters has been frozen since the Noumea Accord, an issue that the French parliament had sought to put to a vote, triggering this week’s violence.

French MPs in Paris voted 351 to 153 in favor of a constitutional amendment to “unfreeze” the region’s electoral register, giving French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years the right to vote. .

These lists were frozen by the French government to appease pro-independence Kanak nationalists who believe new immigration to former colonies, including France, will weaken public support for independence.

Both houses of the French parliament must approve constitutional amendments passed by the National Assembly.

On Tuesday, French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said his government would not allow parliament to vote on the motion before consulting with Kanak leaders, including the main independence coalition, the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS). He said he had no intention of convening a meeting.

“I invite the political leaders of New Caledonia to seize this opportunity to come to Paris in the coming weeks for talks. Mediation is important. Dialogue is important. It is a common, political and global to find a solution,” Attal said on the floor of parliament.

FLNKS released its own statement on Wednesday condemning the vote in parliament and calling for an end to the violence.

“FLNKS appeals to the young people participating in these demonstrations to be appeaseful and to ensure the safety of residents and property,” the statement said.