Page 24 - Islands Business September 2023

New Caledonia New Caledonia

MACRON’S MAGICAL MYSTERY

TOUR OF MELANESIA

By Nic MacLellan despite crowds that welcomed Macron in central Noumea:
“He did not bring us all together, given that we were not
The whirlwind tour of Melanesia by French President there. He did not say a word about the 57% of the New
Emmanuel Macron received widespread media acclaim in July, Caledonian population who did not turn out to vote on 12
as he visited the French Pacific dependency of New Caledonia December 2021.”
and made unprecedented stopovers in Vanuatu and Papua New
Guinea. Questions in New Caledonia
But despite the warm welcome from supporters in Noumea, Macron had a busy two-day schedule in New Caledonia,
Port Vila and Port Moresby, the tour highlighted the many with a military ceremony and wreath laying in Place Bir
contradictions of France’s colonial role in the region. Hakeim, a cultural ceremony at the Kanak Customary
The French leader Senate, and a
signed a series of meeting with
bilateral agreements young people
on climate change, at the Tjibaou
development Cultural Centre.
assistance and A centrepiece of
resource exploitation, the tour was a
and announced new roundtable with
military deployments New Caledonian
to New Caledonia. political leaders
Warning that “in at the French
the Indo-Pacific High Commission,
and particularly in followed by a
Oceania, there is major speech in
a new imperialism Noumea’s central
appearing and a square, the Place
power logic that des Cocotiers.
threatens the As independence
sovereignty of several supporters rallied
states,” he claimed on the outskirts of
that France serves central Noumea,
as an “alternative” the city’s main
Indo-Pacific power square was a sea
at a time of Macron supporters fly the French tricolour. of bleu-blanc-
heightened US-China rouge French
competition. tricolours, as
Macron’s visit to New Caledonia hasn’t improved the attitude thousands gathered to hear Macron’s speech on New
of key Kanak leaders, still angered by France’s decision to rush Caledonia’s political future. After three referendums on self-
through the December 2021 referendum on self-determination. determination in 2018-2021, he stressed: “New Caledonia is
His warning about “new imperialism” rang hollow to indigenous French because it chose to remain French.”
communities still dealing with the old imperialism, as During Macron’s visit to the Kanak Customary Senate and
France maintains its colonial administration of three Pacific his High Commission roundtable, only journalists from Paris
dependencies well into the 21st Century. were allowed in the press pool. New Caledonian journalists
Daniel Goa, President of the largest independence party were left on the street outside, angered that photo
Union Calédonienne (UC), told his party executive on 29 July: opportunities were directed more towards Paris, to bolster
“I reaffirm it and I say it forcefully, New Caledonia is not and Macron’s dire standing in French public opinion polls. The
never will be French land, it is only a land occupied by France. phalanx of officials surrounding the President may have been
During Macron’s stay, he worked to divide and aggravate the worried that local journalists would notice the boycott of his
fracture he’s caused since 12 December 2021, vis-à-vis the roundtable by key FLNKS leaders, including the President of
question of independence.” New Caledonia’s Congress, Roch Wamytan.
The UC leader criticised the President’s “imperialist and “He didn’t come for us, he came for France,” Wamytan
condescending attitude” and said the tour was a “non-event,” told Islands Business. “He came to tell the French people

24 Islands Business, September 2023