Australian-backed Pacific police force option to quell ‘tension’ in New Caledonia, Pacific leaders say

By the Pacific Local Journalism Network Nick SasFiji reporter Lice Movono and reporter for Foreign Affairs Stefanus Dziedzic

In short

• After several delays, three prime ministers of Pacific island states have toured the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia.
• Deadly riots hit the archipelago in May and a standoff remains as indigenous people continue to push for independence from France.

What’s next?

• The French government insists the tour is an “information mission” but leaders will report to the Pacific Islands Forum on what they see as a way forward.

Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka says he is ready to personally intervene in New Caledonia’s push for independence as the standoff continues over the way forward for the conflict-ridden French territory.

The comments came after Fiji’s leader completed a three-day mission on French soil with the prime ministers of Tonga and the Cook Islands on behalf of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) to “get a sense of what is happening on the ground” following deadly attacks . riots rocked the area in May.

The tour, which the French government insisted was an “information mission” and not a “mediation mission”, came after Pacific leaders pressured Paris to allow them into the country to meet with “the family of the Pacific in New Caledonia.

Pacific leaders believe that by talking to both sides, the indigenous Kanaks and the French government, they can help the two sides reach a solution and “lower the temperature” while the indigenous people continue to push for independence from France.

Speaking to the ABC after completing this week’s mission, Rabuka said New Caledonia was still a French territory and their tour was only intended to advise Pacific and PIF leaders on the way forward .

But in a move likely to raise eyebrows in France, Rabuka and his fellow Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown have suggested to the ABC that police could be deployed from the Pacific to New Caledonia as a peacekeeping force under the Australian-backed Pacific Policing Initiative. PPI).

Rabuka suggested the mission could be “similar” to the Solomon Islands Regional Assistance Mission deployed by the Australian government after ethnic unrest began in the 2000s – while emphasizing that the move would require a green light from both the French and the New Caledonian authorities.

“It can be deployed, but it cannot be forced on New Caledonia or France,” Rabuka said.

But the proposal is likely to be controversial in France, which retains ultimate authority over all security and military matters in New Caledonia.

Paris believes pro-independence extremists have deliberately tried to destabilize the area to create a sense of crisis, in an attempt to force the French government to leave New Caledonia.

France’s ambassador to the Pacific, Veronique Roger-Lacan, told the ABC she doubted French authorities would see the need for Pacific police to be deployed to New Caledonia.

“Under the Noumea Treaty, security is the exclusive competence of the French state,” she said.

“The idea of ​​PPI involvement was not mentioned during meetings with the French state during the mission.”

“Stability has been restored by the French state, which is why this does not seem to be a problem now.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is said to be uninterested in the idea of ​​a police deployment in the Pacific region.

“We welcome the PIF Troika+ mission to New Caledonia and look forward to the delegation’s report to PIF members in due course,” they said.

Rabuka also suggested that he would be willing to personally intervene on behalf of the Kanaks in New Caledonia to “dissociate” from France if they so desired.

In July, the French ambassador to the Pacific told the ABC that it was impossible for the PIF to “mediate” between French authorities and pro-independence parties as New Caledonia remained part of France.

France continues to deploy thousands of police in New Caledonia to keep the peace after violence erupted in May over Paris’s plan for voting reforms that the indigenous Kanak people fear would leave them in a permanent minority, hurting their chances for independence would be crushed.

New violence began in September after French security forces killed two men, bringing the death toll to 13 after months of unrest.

Insiders have told the ABC that there is still a sense of false calm on the ground, reinforced by the thousands of French police in the area and the continued threat of violence from extreme pro-independence groups.

The Australian government is recommending that any trip to New Caledonia should be “reconsidered”.

‘A feeling of tension’

The leaders’ trip comes as an impasse on the way forward for the French territory, with New Caledonia’s pro-independence president Louis Mapou telling Islands Business magazine this week that the political, economic and social system that the country checks ‘has reached the level of the state’. its end.”

Mapou is the first pro-independence Kanak president in more than four decades.

Speaking about the Pacific leaders’ visit, Mapou said the group was not in the country to “interfere”.

“But earlier (they were here) because a member of their family is in trouble,” he said.

“So it is very normal for the Forum to visit and say that they are willing to contribute to the de-escalation of the conflict.”

The PIF has not yet released an official statement on the visit.

In a separate interview for the ABC’s The Pacific Ocean programme, the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, who was also part of the tour, said there was still “a sense of tension in the air” in New Caledonia.

“The goal is to try to reduce those tensions, get people who are in positions of authority to influence other people to start discussions and start talking,” Brown said.

He said there was a crucial need for a financial rescue package to come from France. The price tag of any reconstruction is estimated at about $5 billion.

“The majority of groups and people we spoke to preferred a solution or creating a path forward as a result of more dialogue rather than more violence,” he said.

“So there is a significant portion of the population of New Caledonia that is looking forward to the resumption of discussions and conversations about what New Caledonia they want for the future.

“And it is not just a matter of the Kanaks against the European French.”

-This article was first published by ABC