Melanesian Spearhead Group flags Photo: RNZ Pacific / Kelvin Anthony
Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) leaders are calling for France to allow a joint United Nations-MSG mission to New Caledonia to assess the political situation and propose solutions for the ongoing crisis.
The leaders of the sub-regional bloc - from Fiji, FLNKS, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu - met in Tokyo on the sidelines of the 10th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM10), to specifically talk about New Caledonia.
They included Fiji's Rabuka, PNG's James Marape, Solomon Islands' Jeremiah Manele, and Vanuatu's Charlot Salwai.
They have released the Tokyo Statement, raising their concerns about the "ongoing tenous security situation" and have expressed strong oppostion to the "apparent militarisation" of the French territory since 13 May.
The leaders said the French National Assembly's passing of the constitutional bill to "unfreeze" the electoral roll for the provincial elections in New Caledonia "precipitated the carnage that followed".
"We call on France to allow a UN-MSG Joint mission to visit New Caledonia to assess the political and socioeconomic status and propose ways for mutually and amicably addressing the situation in New Caledonia," they said.
They have also agreed for the New Caledonia situation to be discussed at the 53rd Pacific Island Forum leaders summit (PIFLM53) next month and proposed "that at least one member of the MSG be part of the Forum mission to visit New Caledonia.
Last month, the French ambassador to the Pacific, Veronique Roger-Lacan told RNZ that Paris had met with the Forum troika over the phone and that talks were underway to a meeting with regional leaders soon or at the PIFLM53.
The Melanesian leaders have also welcomed the decision of French President Emmanuel Macron to shelve the constitutional bill to the French Congress, but are urging him to officially withdraw the bill "and issue a public statement to that effect to create a propitious environment for dialogue".
Among other things, the MSG leaders have requested for a high-level 'eminent persons' from France to be engaged in brokering an agreement for further negotiations, "particularly those who were involved in the negotiations that resulted in the conclusion of the Noumea Accord in 1998".
The leaders are also calling on France "to undertake another self-determination referendum on the issue of independence as part of the implementation of actions called for under the UN Fourth Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism (2021-2030)" due to their "dissatisfaction" with the third New Caledonia referendum, which they called "forceful and unilateral decision by the French State".
