Emergency notice in New Caledonia. The High Commission of the Republic decreed, this Tuesday, May 14, a curfew and the ban on all gatherings, after a night of riots on the island, marked in particular by 200 fires. The independence protesters intend to challenge the institutional reform project currently being discussed in the National Assembly, which provides for the end of a “frozen” electoral body.
The 1998 Nouméa Accord, incorporated into the French Constitution in 2007, restricts the number of citizens who can vote: only 1998 voters and their descendants are allowed to participate in provincial elections. A principle negotiated between separatists and loyalists, supposed to prevent any policy of settling citizens committed to maintaining New Caledonia in the Republic. This rule deprives 20% of the island’s inhabitants of the right to vote; Gérald Darmanin intends to modify it.
The Caledonian revolt shows to what extent the balance on the archipelago remains precarious, despite three pro-remain referendums in the Republic, between 2018 and 2021. In The Dark Scenarios of the French Army (Robert Laffont), the prospective book by Alexandra Saviana, from which L’Express offers exclusive extracts this week, specialists point out the risk of local unrest turning into civil war, fueled by the economic interference of the Empire of Medium. “China could take advantage of a momentary weakness in France to accelerate the tempo,” indicates strategist Pierre Razoux. Government experts are already following the matter very closely.