The lifting of these exceptional measures must “allow meetings of the different components of the FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front, independentists) and travel to the roadblocks of elected officials or officials able to call for their lifting”, explained the same Source in a press release.
The state of emergency was established on May 15 (in Switzerland, on the 16 in Nouméa), after violence which has left seven dead to date and the detonator of which was the adoption in Paris of a reform providing for a thaw of the local electorate, that is to say its extension to people established for at least 10 years. Supporters of independence believe that this thaw risks “minorizing” the indigenous Kanak people even more.
Waiting for the barriers to be lifted
The situation remains difficult on the spot, with the police still struggling to control certain districts of Greater Nouméa. And even if the night from Sunday to Monday was relatively calm, the international airport will remain closed to commercial flights at least until June 2.
The executive hopes that this loosening of restrictions will allow a re-establishment of dialogue on the numerous roadblocks still in place, targeting in particular the independence collective CCAT (Cellule for Coordination of Field Actions) which is at the forefront of the protest. The FLNKS for its part on Saturday renewed “its call for calm” and asked to “loosen the grip on the main roads”.
Because the lifting of these roadblocks is “the necessary condition for the opening of concrete and serious negotiations”, the presidency recalled on Sunday, while Emmanuel Macron installed on Thursday, during his lightning visit to Nouméa, a dialogue mission composed of three senior officials who began to hold bilateral exchanges with stakeholders, pro-independence and non-independence groups.
This mission “stands ready to work with elected officials to establish a global agreement” around the unfreezing of the electorate, insisted the presidency.
