faced with the riots in New Caledonia, Gabriel Attal seeks a way out of the crisis

The thawing of the electoral body of the provincial ballot of the archipelago, the subject of the government’s constitutional reform, is at the origin of the outbreak of violence. In total, five people have died since the start of the riots on the “Caillou”: two men aged 20 and 36, a 17 year old girl and two gendarmes.

Towards a situation “soothed“? New Caledonia was in “a calmer situation“Friday May 17, 2024, according to local authorities, with the exception of neighborhoods out of control that the State will try to”to resume“, after four nights of violent protest against an electoral reform passed in Paris. “Reinforcements will arrive (…) to control the areas which have escaped us in recent days, control of which is no longer assured“, Louis Le Franc, High Commissioner of the Republic in this French territory in the Pacific, declared to the press in Nouméa.

They must allow “reconquer all the spaces in the urban area (of Nouméa) that we have lost, and that it is up to us to take back“, he continued. Furthermore, the Minister of Justice, Éric Dupond-Moretti, sent this Thursday the “criminal circular” promised by the Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, for “gensure the heaviest sanctions against rioters and looters“.

However, politically, tensions are still high. President Emmanuel Macron had proposed a videoconference to New Caledonian elected officials which could not be held on Thursday, the “ddifferent actors not wishing to dialogue with each other at the moment“, according to the Elysée. Gabriel Attal chairs a new interministerial crisis unit at the Ministry of the Interior on Friday morning to get this South Pacific territory out of the crisis, against a backdrop of revolt against a controversial electoral reform. The Prime Minister must d Elsewhere, we will also receive, on Friday evening, the presidents of the National Assembly and the Senate in Matignon. With one fixed idea: the end of the crisis.

And for this, Gabriel Attal wants to show that he takes things in hand. By chance of the calendar, the head of government received, on Friday noon, his predecessor, Edouard Philippe, who was very involved in the New Caledonian question.

To resolve the discussions between separatists and loyalists, those familiar with the situation are talking about the launch of a dialogue mission with a mediator. “Gabriel Attal therefore takes on a very complicated file in the worst scenario“, analyzes a member of the majority very involved in the subject. “The Prime Minister never shy away from difficulty“, replies one of his relatives.

The fact remains that Gabriel Attal faces a formidable opponent: time. Emmanuel Macron has given until the end of June for local stakeholders to find a global agreement. Failing which this reform of the electoral body, which has ignited the powder, will be presented to Congress to be voted on.