In the archipelago, after a week of riots, “the night was calmer than the previous one”, according to local authorities. Nevertheless, New Caledonia suffered a “cyber attack of unprecedented force” on Tuesday which has since been “stopped”, the New Caledonian government announced on Wednesday, facts which occurred “shortly after” the announcement by President Emmanuel Macron on his visit to the French archipelago.
Information to remember
⇒ The archipelago targeted by an unprecedented cyberattack
⇒ Macron on his way to Nouméa
⇒ Around a hundred tourists evacuated
The archipelago targeted by an unprecedented cyberattack
“Last night we suffered a cyberattack of unprecedented force in New Caledonia since an (Internet) access provider suffered an attack from outside on an IP address with the aim of saturating the New Caledonian network” , explained Christopher Gygès, member (The Loyalists) of the local collegiate government, at a press conference. Since then, he indicated, the “teams from the State and the OPT (post and telecommunications office) have managed to stop this attack before there was significant damage”.
It occurred “very shortly after the announcement of the visit of the President of the Republic to New Caledonia”, added Christopher Gygès. “Millions of e-mails were sent simultaneously to an e-mail address whose purpose was to saturate” the network “and make it inoperable,” he further clarified.
“A quieter night”
In the archipelago, the night from Tuesday to Wednesday “was calmer than the previous one despite two fires in the urban area of Nouméa”, reported the High Commission of the Republic in a press release. According to the municipality of Nouméa, interviewed by AFP, two schools and 300 vehicles from a dealership went up in smoke.
Nine days after the start of the most serious violence affecting the archipelago in nearly 40 years, the situation, although calmer, remains precarious and entire neighborhoods still difficult to access. A sign of the difficulty in getting the security situation under control, the archipelago’s international airport will remain closed to commercial flights until Saturday morning. In addition, the exceptional measures of the state of emergency are maintained: nighttime curfew, ban on gatherings, the transport of weapons, the sale of alcohol and the TikTok application.
Macron on his way to Nouméa
After more than a week of riots, Emmanuel Macron is on his way to New Caledonia on Wednesday with the aim of resuming dialogue there and accelerating the return to order in Nouméa, where two schools and a car dealership was set on fire overnight.
The surprise visit of the Head of State was announced Tuesday in the Council of Ministers, as requests for postponement of the draft constitutional law on the electorate, rejected by the separatists, multiply. Emmanuel Macron, whose plane took off early Tuesday evening according to the Elysée, must arrive Wednesday evening or Thursday morning (local time) in the French archipelago in the South Pacific to set up a “mission” there, the door said. government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot, without providing further details.
A hundred tourists evacuated
Australia and New Zealand began the day before, Tuesday, to carry out the first evacuation flights of their nationals who found themselves stranded on the island when violent riots broke out last Monday which led to the death of six people, including two gendarmes.
“A hundred tourists have already returned to their territories thanks to flights chartered by their authorities,” said the High Commissioner of the Republic Louis Le Franc in a press release on Wednesday. “These operations will continue until the reopening of La Tontouta international airport”, closed at least until Saturday, he said in his press release.
Edouard Philippe, “hopes” for announcements that are “up to par”
“I hope that the announcements of President Macron”, who is going to New Caledonia, “will be up to the situation”, declared Édouard Philippe Tuesday evening during a public meeting in Bayonne (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), while he had followed the file closely during his visit to Matignon. “The situation is terribly sad and dangerous. France, which has a complicated relationship with its colonial history, has a possibility of finding an original solution, even if it is more difficult than three months ago,” added the former Prime Minister.
“What matters most in New Caledonia is the political agreement between the separatists and the loyalists. It is the top priority,” said the president of Horizons. “We must keep in mind that the aspiration for independence and self-determination of the Kanak people will never disappear. We must find an agreement between stability over time and this aspiration which, if we deny it, will always be there. “subject of violent resurgences”, insisted the former head of government.