Yaël Braun-Pivet and Gérard Larcher are completing a three-day visit to New Caledonia this Wednesday, November 13, hit six months ago by violent riots linked to the mobilization against a change in the electoral body. An approach punctuated by a meeting in the form of question/answer sessions with citizens.
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With our correspondent in Noumea, Charlotte Mannevy
After a toll of 13 deaths, billions of euros in damage and New Caledonia more divided than ever between separatists and non-separatists, Yaël Braun-Pivet and Gérard Larché have scheduled a three-day visit to the Pacific archipelago, which ended this Wednesday. The presidents of the National Assembly and the Senate are leading a consultation mission to try to renew dialogue. They therefore of course met political partners and the economic world, but also New Caledonians, during an evening of discussions fueled by the many questions from citizens.
Two hours after the start of the meeting, Yaël Braun-Pivet and Gérard Larcher were still facing a hedge of raised hands. A rather rare scene in the archipelago, nicknamed the land of the unspoken, where the unvarnished remarks contrasted with the usual reserve of the inhabitants of the “pebble”. Do you consider yourself close enough to your distant colonies? Because today, that’s what we’re talking about », asked one man in particular.
“Help us to be lucid about what you are experiencing”
The speeches follow one another, the story of the riots and everyday difficulties played a major role. “ In Nouméa, we no longer live, we survive. We count the kilos of rice on the shelf to make ends meet », laments a participant. Without obscuring the root of the problem, the difficulties of cohabitation in a country where two conceptions of the world face each other.
Pen and notebook in hand, Gérard Larcher listened. “ Help us to be lucid about what you are experiencing “, he said to open the debates. He left “ very satisfied “. “ They had to talk “, he added.
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In the audience, Rose, a young woman with big dreams for her future and that of her country, appreciated the initiative which gave her a little hope: “ What they did, to invite the population to come and discuss, is what we must do. Because the solutions are found in the people. I no longer believe in the country’s politicians and even their presence I found a little out of place. I think these two people brought some hope for the future of the country. »
A future that everyone is talking about, but without anyone having yet managed to put the different parties around the table.