Daniel Wea, President of the Young Wings Movement in France, stated that social peace in New Caledonia depends on France’s withdrawal of the constitutional reform that aims to neutralize the local population in the elections.
On April 2, the Senate, the upper house of the French parliament, and on May 15, the National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament, gave the green light to a constitutional reform initiative in the French colony of New Caledonia in the Indo-Pacific, which would make French settlers voters and reduce the local population to a minority.
The reform must also be approved by the Congress, a joint meeting of both houses of the French Parliament, before it can be finally adopted and enter into force.
New Caledonia’s indigenous people, the Kanaks, see the French government’s constitutional reform initiative as contrary to the Noumea Agreement signed in 1998, which is important for the island’s independence process.
With this bill, Paris wants to pave the way for French people who have lived on the island for at least 10 years to vote in local elections.
This would mean that approximately 25,000 additional people would be registered on the voter register on the island.
Worried that this reform, imposed on them from Paris, 17,000 kilometers away, would disrupt the island’s independence process, the pro-independence supporters have taken action since May 13.
The French government dispatched police and gendarmerie to the region to carry out operations against the pro-independence supporters demanding their rights in various points of the island, especially in the capital Noumea.
On May 15, French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced a ban on the social media platform TikTok and a 12-day state of emergency on the island.
However, the French government’s restrictive measures on the island provoked reactions from opposition politicians and independence supporters.
French President Emmanuel Macron, during a visit to New Caledonia with his staff on May 23, rejected demands to withdraw the controversial constitutional reform.
According to French official sources, 7 people lost their lives and more than 370 people were detained on the island.
“Dialogue must continue within the framework of the Noumea Agreement”
Daniel Wea, President of the Young Kanaks Movement, evaluated the developments in New Caledonia to AA correspondent.
Wea stated that the Kanaks oppose the French colonialist and imperialist policy.
Stating that this situation is related to the issue of decolonization of New Caledonia, Wea explained that they want the government to withdraw the constitutional reform that will lead to a change in the number of voters on the island.
“Today, the short-term achievement of social peace today depends on the withdrawal of the bill so that dialogue can take place,” Wea said, adding that they cannot be in dialogue with a state that continues to exert pressure on New Caledonia with a bill that will lead to an increase in the population on the island.
Emphasizing that the dialogue between the French state and New Caledonia should continue within the framework of the Noumea Agreement signed in 1998, Wea stated that France does not listen to the Kanaks, the indigenous people of the island.
Wea commented that the government’s sending thousands of soldiers and security forces to the island shows that the French state is not capable of managing the situation, noting that they question whether France can accompany New Caledonia in the “decolonization process”.
Stating that the constitutional reform aims to end the “special” position of New Caledonia within the French Republic, Wea stated that the reform offers a perspective in which the island’s status will remain within France.
“This is a matter of life and death”
Wea noted that if everyone on the island is given the right to vote, the Kanaks, the indigenous people, will become a “minority” in their own land and said, “This is a matter of life and death.”
Evaluating the reaction of the indigenous people to the reform that Paris wants to put into effect, Wea said, “The Kanaks want to say, ‘I exist as a people. They want to strangle me, but I will not allow it. I want to tell the world that I exist.
Wea said that it was the pressure of France that fueled the events on the island and said, “The state must take responsibility for these events.”
The key agreement in New Caledonia’s independence process: Noumea Agreement
New Caledonia gained autonomy status with the Noumea Agreement in 1998, and in order to prevent the indigenous people from becoming a minority in their own lands, the right to vote was limited to those who resided on the island before 1998 and their children.
The island held referendums for independence three times, in 2018, 2020 and 2021, and although the 50 percent threshold was approached, this demand was not accepted.
The pro-independence Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) boycotted the referendum in 2021 to protest France’s influence on the elections and demanded that the referendum be held on a different date due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
