France has a new government. Can it resolve the crisis in New Caledonia after months of deadly unrest?

PARIS (AP) — After four months of deadly riots in New CaledoniaTensions are rising in the French Pacific territory between pro-independence indigenous Kanak people and white settler communities loyal to Paris as the vast archipelago east of Australia celebrates the anniversary of colonization on Tuesday.

Communities have differing views on the future of the territory following the Kanak rebellion in May against President Emmanuel Macron voting reform in New Caledonia. Loyalists called on supporters in the capital, Noumea, to mark the 171st anniversary of the French takeover by honking their horns during a radio broadcast of the French national anthem, La Marseillaise.

Separately, on neighboring Mare Island, the Kanak National Council of Chiefs is meeting and is expected to unilaterally declare sovereignty over the Kanak nation in its customary territories. Macron sidelines controversial voting reform — along with the situation in New Caledonia — in June after the dissolution of Parliament and the call for early parliamentary elections.

While mainland France was plunged into an unprecedented political crisis following a split vote in July and the euphoria of the Paris Olympics, the French police and military were largely dealing with unrest and discontent in New Caledonia, carrying out raids and arrests of authorities suspected of involvement in violence, including clashes, looting and arson. Thirteen people were killed and €2.2 million in damage was done to businesses, homes and public property.

Since Macron’s presidency began in 2017, the French territory in the Pacific has been at the heart of his Indo-Pacific strategy as he seeks to increase France’s influence in a region where China and the United States are vying for power. New Caledonia is an important world producer of nickelan essential raw material needed to produce batteries for electric vehicles, solar panels, steel and other everyday items.

French colonialism versus the fight for independence

New Caledonia became French in 1853 under Emperor Napoleon III, Napoleon’s nephew and successor. After World War II, it became an overseas territory, and French citizenship was granted to all Kanaks in 1957. The Pacific archipelago of about 300,000 people is 10 time zones ahead of Paris and is known to tourists for its atolls and reefs, which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Tensions have been building for decades between the indigenous Kanaks, who have long sought freedom from France after suffering harsh segregation policies and widespread discrimination, and the descendants of colonizers and other white settlers who wanted it to remain part of France. People of European descent in New Caledonia distinguish between descendants of colonizers and descendants of the many prisoners forcibly transported to the territory. In the 1980s, tensions between communities erupted in violence that brought the archipelago to the brink of civil war.

The Peace Agreement That Will End All Peace

In 1988, a peace agreement was reached between the rival factions. A decade later, France pledged to grant New Caledonia and the Kanak people greater political power and broad autonomy, and to hold three more referendums that could pave the way for self-determination under an agreement known as the Noumea Accord.

Three referendums were held between 2018 to 2021 and the majority of voters decided to remain part of France instead of supporting independence. Pro-independence Kanak people rejected the results of the last referendum in 2021, which was boycotted because it was held during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which severely affected the Kanak community.

Tensions grew and deepened earlier this year when Macron quickly pushed through parliament a bill to change France’s constitution and New Caledonia’s electoral rolls, granting local elections to residents who have settled there in the past decade, leaving indigenous people fearing further erosion of their rights and erasure of their identity.

Police repression against pro-independence group

The adoption of the controversial bill by both houses of the French parliament in May led to mass protests demonstrations that turned violentwhich prompted Macron to declare a state of emergency and send thousands of police and military reinforcements to the remote territory. Thirteen people, mostly Kanaks, and two policemen were killed and since the New Caledonian police began the operation, almost 3,000 people have been arrested The investigation was launched just days after protests in May turned violent.

Among those arrested Eleven Kanak activists from a pro-independence group known as The Field Action Coordination Unit, which has been organizing protests against French rule since April, took part in the sweeping police raids. Seven of the detained activists, including Christian TheinKanak tribal leader, was airlifted 17,000 kilometres (10,500 miles) from his home to seven prisons in mainland France for the purpose of applying temporary arrest.

Shattered trust and no hope for dialogue

This transfer of activists in June, it sparked renewed unrest across the archipelago. It widened the rift between communities and destroyed the last vestiges of trust in the will of political actors to overcome the huge differences over the future of New Caledonia and its economic disparities through the “concrete and serious negotiations” that Macron had demanded during his lightning trip to Noumea in May.

Tein’s group accused the French authorities of “colonial practices” and demanded the activists’ immediate release and return to their homeland. They vowed that “the Kanak people will never give up their desire for independence through peaceful means.” The then French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that the Field Action Coordination Unit was a “mafia-style organization” that consisted of “criminals and criminals” who operated under the guise of an independence movement. His comments angered Kanak leaders, and Grand Chief Hippolyte Sinewami-Htamumu expressed full support for the independence group.

New Prime Minister, new policy?

After weeks of struggling with political blocs in a divided parliament, Macron’s new candidate Prime Minister Michel Barnier formed a new government on Saturday. France’s rising debt and a new budget will be at the top of Barnier’s list of priorities. But many have called on the veteran politician and former EU Brexit negotiator to change France’s approach to New Caledonia and resolve its security and economic crises with policies that deliver on the promise of the Noumea Agreement: “shared destiny” and ultimately “complete emancipation.”

Barnier is expected to outline his approach in an inaugural speech to the National Assembly, France’s influential lower house of parliament, on Oct. 1. His first decision on New Caledonia is likely to be whether to hold or postpone provincial elections scheduled for Dec. 15.