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Emmanuel Macron, who welcomed “clear progress” in terms of security, is expected on site, more than a week after the start of the riots which are further fracturing the archipelago.
Is the President of the Republic’s trip to New Caledonia able to heal the wounds of a fragmented society? After the riots which shook the “Caillou” and left six dead, the head of state, Emmanuel Macron is expected Thursday morning on the archipelago with the objective of resuming the thread of dialogue and accelerating the return to order in Nouméa.
This “surprise visit” by the head of state was announced Tuesday in the Council of Ministers, as requests for postponement of the draft constitutional law on the electorate, rejected by the separatists, multiply. Emmanuel Macron must install a “assignment“, specified government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot, without providing further details.
Remains only on site, the night from Tuesday to Wednesday “was calmer than the previous one despite two fires in the urban area of Nouméa“, reported the High Commission of the Republic in a press release. “It’s a good thing that Emmanuel Macron is coming to New Caledonia, believes Lisa, a French woman living in the archipelago for more than a year, because it shows his consideration of New Caledonia and the problems we are currently facing. I think that his arrival must allow us to open a fertile dialogue between the separatists and the loyalists.”
For the Head of State to calm things down and allow a consensus to be found is obviously the wish of these residents. But they also wonder: is living together still possible or not? Karine, an architect in New Caledonia for 18 years, is skeptical: “I think it’s going to be complicated for a long time to regain a certain confidence. It’s something that I’m very nervous about.”
“We will all have to re-weave this bond which is broken today”
For this woman married to a Caledonian and whose two children were born in Nouméa, the visit of the Head of State will not be able to resolve all these problems.
Corentin, a liberal nurse, says he is much more optimistic. “Personally, I make allowances for all that. I don’t put everyone in the same basket. In the evening, I am present at the dams and at the dams, we have all types of population, people who come from everywhere: we have Melanesians, Kanaks, Wallisians, Caldoches, expats like me… So that doesn’t change.”
And he assures us: “It goes really well every night, we have no worries about that. There is a very good understanding, a very good cohesion. And precisely, the fact of having these events also reinforces and brings together a lot between us.” The cohesion of New Caladonia is one of the points at the center of discussions during the visit of the Head of State, who will be accompanied by the Ministers of the Interior, the Armed Forces and Overseas Territories.