New Caledonia - Independence
New Caledonia has been on the UN decolonisation list since 1986. New Caledonia's pro-independence umbrella organisation said 13 December 2021 it doesn't recognise the legitimacy and validity of the third and final referendum on independence from France. The statement by the organisation grouping seven parties and unions came after 96.5 percent of voters rejected independence from France. The vote was boycotted because of France's refusal to postpone it to next year to consider the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Kanak population. Following a call for abstention, only 43 percent of voters went to the polls, with turnout as low as 0.6 percent in some mainly Kanak areas. The statement said the referendum was not in the spirit of the 1998 Noumea Accord and the UN resolutions on the territory's decolonisation. It said the path of dialogue had been broken by the stubbornness of the French government, which is unable to reconcile its geostrategic interests in the Pacific with its obligation to decolonise New Caledonia.
New Caledonia (NC) is a French Overseas 'special collectivity' with significant autonomy under the terms of the 1998 Noumea Accord. Its major industries are tourism and nickel production. It comprises the main island of Grande Terre (where the capital, Noumea, is situated), the four Loyalty Islands (Ouvea, Lifou, Tiga and Maré), the Belep archipelago, the Isle of Pines and some remote islands. As provided for in the Noumea Accord, New Caledonia and France now share responsibility for New Caledonia's regional relations, allowing New Caledonia to join some regional organisations in its own right. In 2016, New Caledonia was granted full membership of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). New Caledonia is a long-standing member of the Pacific Community (SPC), which has its secretariat headquartered in Noumea.
Financial transfers from France are also an important source of income in New Caledonia–amounting to some AUD2.45 billion in 2018 (17 per cent of GDP). This covers expenditure on defence, domestic security, education and public services, as well as the salaries, social security contributions and pensions of State employees. It also includes direct grants to the Territorial and Provincial Governments, and additional funds go to targeted economic development projects.
Just over 270,000 people live in New Caledonia (2019). There are deep divisions between its indigenous Kanak population and the, mainly locally born, Europeans over independence. Approximately 39 per cent are indigenous ('Kanak'). The remainder are Caledonians of European, Polynesian and other (including Vietnamese, Indonesian and Algerian) origins.
The previous conservative administrations of France scarcely made any provision for transition, in order to allow the Melanesians to play a more effective role in the administration of their country. By 1983, among the Melanesian population, there was only one qualified school teacher, only one officer in the armed services, only one doctor, only one architect, only three engineers, no technicians and no middle class.
The socialist Mitterand Government of France inherited a very complex and difficult situation in New Caledonia. First of all, what was once a Melanesian majority in the indigenous population of New Caledonia had, as a consequence of migration policies undertaken from the early to mid-1950s, been reduced to a minority, albeit a large one, of about 43 per cent to 45 per cent of the population of New Caledonia. This, in itself, created a situation of some tension, when the future of New Caledonia is discussed, in terms of whether it will have an association with France, some form of self-determination, or independence.
Battle lines were drawn in New Caledonia following the announcement in Noumea by Independence Front parties that they will set up a provisional independent government on 01 December 1984. The parties had rejected the French government plan for a referendum on self-determination for the French overseas territory in 1989. They planned to change the name of New Caledonia to Kanaky, adopt a new flag and constitution, and “actively” boycott the forthcoming elections for the New Caledonian Territorial Assembly. The “active” boycott meant that they planned to disrupt the electoral procedures. The announcement came after a three-day closed meeting of several hundred delegates representing pro-independence political parties and groups forming the Independence Front. The meeting agreed to form a new organisation known as the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front, or FNLKS.
Members of the Independence Front had been foreshadowing these developments for some time, following the rejection by the French National Assembly of the front’s request in France to move more quickly towards self-determination and independence. The decision to form the FNLKS meant the end of dialogue between the independence leaders and Paris and the polarisation of anti-independence and pro-independence forces in New Caledonia. New Caledonia had six anti-independence groups and parties, and there was pressure among them to form themselves into one unified anti-independence movement to meet what they saw as the new Kanak threat.
The voices of moderation were being drowned out as hard-liners of both sides respond to impatience, fear and prejudice. The French themselves did not wish to remain the colonial masters. These days it is an expensive, thankless, and unfashionable task incompatible with their position in the world. But the predominantly French-origin farmers and businessmen who formed what is known as the right-wing in New Caledonia thought they could hold back the clock, if necessary by creating a situation in which the French will have to intervene. The left-wing was equally difficult, demanding greater speed than cooler minds feel is wise for so small and vulnerable a nation.
Melanesian impatience can be understood. New Caledonia was not even on the United Nations list of colonised countries, a difficult matter for the cynical bureaucrats of that international talk factory because New Caledonia is, technically, part of France. New Caledonia's independence had to be achieved with justice for all people of all races who, by accidents of history, acts of hope, efforts of ambition, decisions of 19th-century French courts or whatever other means, found themselves with all they possess, and all they desire, caught up on the tiny speck of Pacific rock which Captain Cook felt reminded him so much of Scotland. The Melanesians, who have victory inevitably within their reach, must somehow convince the French colonials, and those who side with them for financial or political reasons, that they are not about to be dispossessed and tossed out, as happened in Africa. A 1988 attack on gendarmes who were taken hostage and freed after deadly assault by special forces ultimately led to a peace deal.
The Noumea Accord ended a deadly conflict between the mostly pro-independence indigenous Kanak population and the descendants of European settlers. It allowed for up to three independence votes by 2022 if requested by at least a third of the local legislature. The Noumea Accord (1998) and consequent Organic Law (March 1999) provide the constitutional framework under which New Caledonia is governed. The Accord also defines New Caledonia's relations with France and sets out a timetable for New Caledonia to assume responsibility for most areas of government. Independence leaders had been unable to agree on a local government president, forcing France to develop the local budget and increase its administrative role.
The New Caledonian Congress is mandated to request up to three referenda on whether New Caledonia should assume the final sovereign powers (justice, public order, defence, monetary and foreign affairs) and become fully independent from France. The first of the three referenda took place on 4 November 2018, with 56.7 per cent of eligible voters voting to remain part of France. A second referendum occurred on 4 October 2020, with 53.3 per cent of eligible voters voting to remain part of France.
The independence movement was entitled to ask for a third referendum before October 2022 as per the Noumea Accord. Generally, the independence movement is supported by indigenous Kanak voters from the Northern and Loyalty Island Provinces. but Even if the independence movement lose the third referendum—discussions about the future of NC must still be held. Emmanuel Macron, the President of France refrained from dictating whether NC stays part of France. However, he has noted the challenges facing Indo-Pacific nations. He has also asked the pro-French political parties to define their future vision for NC.
France pressed ahead with the planned referendum date of 12 December 2021, which drew a furious early response from pro independence leaders in New Caledonia who wanted to push back the vote until next year because of the coronavirus outbreak there. Some in New Zealand or Australia were concerned about the prospect of the Noumea course falling apart as a result of this if there was a boycott from the pro independence parties. Separatist leaders in the New Caledonia called 21 October 2021 for a boycott of the December independence referendum, urging the government to focus on the Covid crisis. Members of the pro-independence FLNKS group issued the statement a day after they called on France's minister for overseas territories Sebastien Lecornu to postpone the poll during his visit there.
If independence is rejected again, however, the French government wanted to prepare a new evolved status for the archipelago during that period, which would be put to yet another referendum.
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