In New Caledonia, there will be no “project” referendum on a new status for the territory in June 2023, as announced by the French State the day after the last and third referendum provided for by the Nouméa agreement. . Announcement made by the Minister Delegate for Overseas Territories, Jean-François Carenco, on the first day of his visit to the South Pacific territory.
With our correspondent in Nouméa, Charlotte Manny
For a mission intended to listen, during which no announcement was to be expected, Jean-Francois Carenco hit hard. By postponing a referendum on a new status for the archipelago to an indefinite date, the minister is giving himself much needed latitude. ” We’ll do it when we’re ready “, he said.
The calendar indeed seemed untenable. It has been two years since separatists, non-separatists and the national government met around a table. And the rift got even worse since the disputed referendum last December. The separatists simply decreeing the obsolete calendar and that henceforth, they would only speak of pure and simple independence.
“I’m sure there is a way”
Under these conditions, it is therefore impossible for Jean-François Carenco, whose mission statement is to renew the dialogue, to imagine bringing everyone together and drafting in ten months a consensual and definitive statute that 30 years of a process of decolonization n failed to bring out.
It remains to assume this announcement which gives a pledge to the separatists, but could antagonize loyalists who, on the contrary, wanted to negotiate a new legal framework as quickly as possible. But Jean-François Carenco, a fine connoisseur of the territory where he was a senior official, wants to believe it. ” I’m sure there is a way. This country is one of the most beautiful when it comes to doing things right “, did he declare.
It is during a move on the territory that the minister made this announcement. On the first day of his visit, Mr. Carenco first met elected officials from all sides, before going to the Loyalty Islands and the North Province, two independence strongholds. He is due to visit the KNS metallurgical site in Koné on Tuesday, before returning to Noumea for a series of political talks on Wednesday and Thursday.