New Caledonia Says ‘Non’ to Independence

NOUMÉA, New Caledonia — New Caledonia, a tiny scattering of islands within the South Pacific, is not going to mark the brand new yr by turning into the world’s latest nation.

In a referendum held on Sunday, voters rejected independence overwhelmingly, with 96 % electing to remain a part of France, in keeping with provisional outcomes launched on Sunday night by the French Excessive Fee in New Caledonia.

However whereas the referendum failed, prompting those that voted “non” to fly the French tricolor within the capital, Nouméa, the outcome doesn’t sign an finish to desires of New Caledonian sovereignty.

“We’re pursuing our path of emancipation,” Louis Mapou, New Caledonia’s president, stated in an interview, brushing apart any outcomes of the referendum. “That’s what is important.”

Mr. Mapou is the primary pro-independence chief to carry the official title of president in New Caledonia and the primary from the Indigenous Kanak neighborhood which makes up about 40 % of the inhabitants. He refers back to the territory as a rustic. (He’s additionally the form of president who chauffeurs himself in a Subaru Forester.)

A big portion of the Kanak pro-independence bloc boycotted Sunday’s vote after its plea for a postponement was rebuffed, resulting in worries that the referendum’s legitimacy was undermined by nonparticipation. President Emmanuel Macron of France, who has made shoring up the nation’s worldwide profile a cornerstone of his marketing campaign for re-election in April, refused a delay.

“France is extra stunning as a result of New Caledonia selected to remain,” Mr. Macron stated in a televised assertion on Sunday.

With its far-flung island outposts — corresponding to French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna within the Pacific Ocean, in addition to Mayotte and Réunion within the Indian Ocean — France boasts one of many world’s largest maritime profiles. However the current collapse of a French submarine take care of Australia, a results of america and Britain swooping in as a substitute, embarrassed Paris. Mr. Macron had positioned France as a bulwark in opposition to China, which is increasing its clout within the Indo-Pacific.

“Woe to the small, woe to the remoted, woe to those that shall be influenced and attacked by hegemonic powers who will come to hunt their fish, their expertise, their financial sources,” he stated in a speech in July in French Polynesia.

Though the “hegemonic energy” remained unnamed, the which means was clear: China.

Sunday’s vote was the third of three independence referendums promised by Paris after years of battle in New Caledonia within the Nineteen Eighties, an rebellion identified merely as “the Occasions.” Within the second vote final yr, 47 % selected independence, up from 43 % within the first referendum in 2018.

By 5 p.m. on Sunday, voter participation had fallen to 42 %, down from 79 % throughout the 2020 referendum. Whereas strains of voters snaked out of polling stations in French loyalist areas of Nouméa and its environs on Sunday morning, they had been just about empty in pro-independence strongholds.

Kanak leaders had urged the French authorities to reschedule Sunday’s referendum for subsequent yr as a result of a late-breaking coronavirus wave had disproportionately affected their folks. Prolonged Kanak mourning traditions, they argued, made political campaigning unimaginable.

“The French state is disrespecting the connection between the Kanak dwelling and useless,” stated Daniel Goa, the top of a pro-independence political occasion. “The decolonization course of goes forward with out respecting the individuals who should be decolonized.”

The historical past of empire is one among centuries of subjugation, however there are few locations left on this planet the place colonization endures. After annexing New Caledonia in 1853 and establishing a penal colony, the French compelled the Kanaks off their fertile tribal lands and onto reservations. The French brutally crushed Kanak efforts to repel them.

With the invention of nickel, the French administration introduced in laborers from Asia and different elements of the Pacific to work the mines, which stay the territory’s largest financial driver. Battle and international illnesses exacted a lethal toll on the Kanaks, whose inhabitants plunged by about half inside three-quarters of a century. At the moment, with an inflow of French crowding Nouméa — civil servants can earn salaries double that of again in France — the Kanaks are a minority of their homeland.

To arrange for the referendum on Sunday, hundreds of French safety forces descended on the territory of 270,000 folks. The aftermath of the final referendum devolved into violence, with Kanak youths setting hearth to nickel mine amenities and blockading main thoroughfares.

“Half the nation is for independence and half is in opposition to it,” Charles Wea, a presidential adviser, stated earlier than the votes had been counted. “We have now to rebuild a brand new social contract. In any other case, we’ll all the time be divided.”

New Caledonia is the one place in Melanesia, an arc of islands that stretches from Papua New Guinea to Fiji, that is still beneath colonial management. Neighboring Vanuatu gained independence in 1980, the Solomon Islands two years earlier than that.

French loyalists argue that New Caledonia’s privileged financial place — its per capita G.D.P. would rank it among the many prime 20 richest international locations if it had been thought of a rustic — is afforded by its standing as a French territory. Subsidies from Paris fill New Caledonia’s coffers, and the territory’s wealth doubled over the previous three a long time.

Ought to New Caledonia finally grow to be unbiased, the territory would commerce France’s geopolitical affect for that of China, which has prolonged its attain over Melanesia, French loyalists say. Final month, deadly riots shook the Solomon Islands, with the prime minister blaming the violence on the swap of diplomatic allegiance to China from Taiwan, the self-governing democracy that’s Beijing’s political rival.

“If you take a look at France and China, it’s completely totally different in the case of human rights,” stated Christopher Gygès, an anti-independence politician who additionally serves as New Caledonia’s minister for the financial system, international commerce and vitality. “France’s presence will shield us from China’s urge for food and efforts to take management of the area.”

Mr. Mapou, the president, has held open the chance that an unbiased New Caledonia would entrust its protection to France, permitting Paris to take care of a regional stronghold.

“We will stability,” he stated. “We will be within the Pacific, defend our pursuits, and keep a hyperlink with France and Europe due to historical past and tradition.”

Drawn by New Caledonia’s local weather and comfy dwelling, the inhabitants of Métros, as current arrivals from France are identified, has elevated sharply in a technology. The middle of Nouméa is essentially a white city of baguettes and leisurely video games of pétanque. New Caledonia’s wealth is concentrated within the Southern Province, the place Nouméa is. Even the New Caledonian authorities will get its workplace area from the province, which is ruled by a white chief.

Regardless of New Caledonia’s prosperity, earnings disparities yawn huge. Kanaks make up the overwhelming majority of the territory’s impoverished, unemployed and imprisoned. Regardless of authorities efforts to assist Kanaks pursue increased training in France, there are few Kanak medical doctors, attorneys and engineers.

In a sprawl of dilapidated backed housing in Magenta, a neighborhood in Nouméa, Jeremy Hnalep, 25, stated he drew little hope from politics. The buildings’ lobbies reeked of urine; clumps of younger folks handed round hashish, which is against the law in New Caledonia.

“The one alternative is to stay outdoors the system as a result of the system is not going to change even when there may be independence,” Mr. Hnalep stated.

Kanak politicians estimate that unemployment amongst Kanak youth exceeds 40 %.

In villages outdoors Nouméa, the colourful flag of Kanaky, as Kanaks name the land, flutters from market stalls and fishing boats. It flies over funerals and weddings, Catholic feast days and labor strikes. The French flag is never seen.

But on the eve of the vote, at the same time as she acknowledged the colonial burden on the Kanaks, Anne-Marie Kourévi, the 81-year-old spouse of a Kanak tribal chief in southern New Caledonia, stated she would vote “oui.”

“I’m French,” she stated, “and I’ve been for greater than 80 years.”

Aurelien Breeden contributed reporting from Paris.