(Paris) French President Emmanuel Macron decided on Monday to lift the state of emergency in the French territory of New Caledonia, in the Pacific Ocean, a measure intended to allow political dialogue following the unrest that seven deaths and much destruction, his office said.
The presidency indicated in a press release that the state of emergency would not be extended “for the moment” and that it would therefore end on Monday at 8 p.m. Paris time, or 5 a.m. Tuesday in New Caledonia.
The decision aims to “allow meetings of the different components” of the FLNKS independence movement, the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front, and to allow elected officials and other local leaders “able to call” for the lifting of the barricades to attend. surrender and meet with protesters, the statement said.
Mr. Macron has repeatedly lobbied leaders from both camps of the bitter New Caledonian divide for the removal of protesters’ barricades: the indigenous Kanaks, who want independence, and the pro-Paris leaders, who do not don’t want it.
In the press release, he insisted that this was “the necessary condition for the opening of concrete and serious negotiations”.
President Macron’s decision comes after his trip to New Caledonia on Thursday.
The press release specifies that 480 additional gendarmes should arrive on the archipelago “in the coming hours”, bringing security reinforcements to more than 3,500 people. Among the seven people killed in the shooting were two gendarmes.
A state of emergency was imposed by Paris on May 15 for at least 12 days, in order to strengthen the powers of the police. The emergency measures give authorities more powers to combat violence, including the possibility of placing under house arrest for people considered a threat to public order and expanded powers to carry out searches, seize weapons and restrict travel, with possible prison time for violators.
This month’s unrest erupted as the French Parliament debated in Paris an amendment to the French Constitution to make changes to the electoral rolls in New Caledonia.
The leader of a New Caledonian independence party called on his supporters on Saturday to “remain mobilized” throughout the French Pacific archipelago and to “maintain resistance” against the Paris government’s efforts to impose electoral reforms. The indigenous Kanaks fear that these reforms will further marginalize them.
Christian Tein, the leader of the pro-independence party known as the Field Action Coordination Cell, addressed his supporters and protesters in a video message posted on social media.
In a separate statement, the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front called on Emmanuel Macron to withdraw the electoral reform plan if France wants to “end the crisis”.
New Caledonia became French in 1853 under Emperor Napoleon III, Napoleon’s nephew and heir. It became an overseas territory after the Second World War, French nationality being granted to all Kanaks in 1957.