Following two weeks of fatal rioting in New Caledonia, the French Pacific island’s international airport in Nouméa has said it will not re-open before 2 June 2024. The announcement by the New Caledonia Chamber of Commerce and Industry means the shutdown will last at least three weeks.
Barricades, curfews, and violent clashes
Since the closure of the airport in mid-May, France, Australia and New Zealand have operated evacuation flights but thousands of people remain effectively trapped in resorts and accommodation on the island, according to France’s High Commission there.
French security forces on the overseas territory have swelled to 3,500 amid continued violent uprisings and arson attacks. Eight people have died on the island since 13 May 2024, including one person shot by police the day after a visit by President Macron. An evening and overnight curfew is in place, while some areas have been barricaded by so-called field action cells, which is hampering the delivery of essential supplies.
Marie Guevenoux, France’s minister for overseas territories, issued a statement on 25 May describing the situation as “very difficult for the island’s inhabitants, particularly in Greater Nouméa.”
Background
The unrest is down to clashes over calls for independence and plans for electoral reform that will widen suffrage on the island collective. In 1998, in an effort to better represent the indigenous Kanaks who make up 40% of the population, voting was limited to people who lived in New Caledonia before that year and their children only. But plans to extend the right to vote in provincial elections to residents who have lived in New Caledonia for at least 10 years have created fears that the Kanak voice will be lost.
Macron has paused the reforms but insisted he “will never make a decision to postpone or suspend under the pressure of violence.” He has also questioned whether all the protesters were politically motivated or simply opportunistic. “There is a political background to this violence,” he acknowledged but, speaking to Le Parisien, he asked: “What do the looting of a supermarket, burning of a school, ransoming people … have to do with the war for independence? Nothing! This is high banditry.”
The French President has said he intends to push the measures through before June by going ahead with a special congress or calling a referendum. But it is not clear what end to the troubles is in sight. One of the organisers of the barricades has said the Field Cells remain “mobilised” and would “maintain the resistance in our neighbourhoods, in a structured, organised way”.
