New Caledonia's Goverment President Louis Mapou (3rd L) and New Caledonia's Congress President Roch Wamytan (C) attend a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron (2nd R), New Caledonia's elected officials and local representatives at the French High Commissioner Louis Le Franc's residence in Noumea. Photo: AFP / Ludovic Marin
The much-anticipated high-level Pacific leaders' mission to New Caledonia has been "deferred" by the French territory's local government, RNZ Pacific understands.
The mission was given the thumbs up by Paris just 10 days ago, when France's top diplomat in the region hand-delivered a letter on behalf of President Emmanuel Macron to the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) chair and secretary-general in Suva.
Forum leaders had written to Macron in July to send a Ministerial Committee to Nouméa to gather information from the conflicting sides in the ongoing crisis - which began on 13 May - ahead of the 53rd PIF Leaders' Summit in Tonga, beginning next Monday.
The Pacific mission, which would include PIF chair and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown and Fiji's Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, was expected to take place this week.
However, New Caledonia's pro-independence President Louis Mapou wants the trip moved "to a later date" due to differences between Paris and the local government on who is ultimately responsible for the PIF mission.
"[The] French state decided to control alone [the] subject and object of the mission as well as its future conclusion," New Caledonia Congress President, Roch Wamytan, said in a statement on Sunday, sent to RNZ Pacific.
"French state wants to see what will come out of this mission and wants the mission only to denounce the violence in New Caledonia."
Wamytan said when France's permanent representative to the Pacific, Veroqique Roger-Lacan, delivered the letter to the Forum on 10 August, she "stressed that it was obvious that the French State should organise this mission, since it was its responsibility to do so".
He said Roger-Lacan did not mention the that New Caledonia is a full member of Forum, and the request for this mission was made by the President Mapou.
"We consider that the French State dictates the purpose of the mission. We consider this as an unacceptable form of humiliation. Clearly this mode of operation is an anachronistic neo-colonial practice.
"What's more it's difficult to accept that three Oceanian heads of state should be received by a high commissioner of the French Republic.
"Our oceanian home, the PIF, cannot be so belittled. This is the reason why President Mapou refused to endorse this backward-looking behavior by the administrative power towards a non-self-governing territory."
Wamytan said the PIF is sending a mission to one of its members and the French government has seized the opportunity to absolve itself of any responsibility for the current situation.
"President MAPOU therefore considers that all the conditions for a successful mission have not been met, which is why, in the absence of any consideration and respect for the government of New Caledonia, it is usually wiser to differ the mission to a later date."
Roger-Lacan said on Sunday that "France is ready anytime to welcome such a mission".
RNZ Pacific has contacted the PIF and Brown for comment.
We understand the PIF will release a statement.
The 53rd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders' Summit will be held from 26-30 August. Photo: Supplied / Pacific Islands Forum
What we know went down
Mark Brown met with Mapou via zoom twice ahead of Japan's Pacific Island Leaders Meeting (PALM).
As a result of their discussions, the idea of a special Pacific mission to New Caledonia, a member of the Forum, was born.
New Caledonia has been a full voting member of the Pacific Islands Forum since 2016. France is one of 21 Forum Dialogue Partners.
"The membership was justified on the basis that they [New Caledonia] were on the path to independence. And similarly, French Polynesia had been reinscribed on the C24 (Special Committee on Decolonisation) list," Pacific researcher, Dr Tess Newton Cain said.
At PALM, Pacific leaders announced they wanted to send a high-level delegation to New Caledonia to investigate the political crisis before the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Tonga in the last week of August.
Macron's spokesperson in New Caledonia, Roger-Lacan Roger-Lacan, was also at PALM10 and met with some Pacific leaders on the sidelines.
She told RNZ Pacific Brown did not pick up her calls and made it clear that France "decides on who enters" New Caledonia.
French Ambassador to the Pacific, Véronique Roger-Lacan, in Rarotonga for the 52nd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in 2023. Photo: RNZ Pacific/ Lydia Lewis
At the same time, the Melenesian Spearhead Group (MSG) issued a strong statement on the matter.
MSG chair and Vanuatu PM Charlot Salwai told RNZ Pacific he had supported the independence of Melanesian countries for a long time.
"It's not only a [PIF] member and neighbour, but we are family," Salwai said.
Following the meeting in Japan, the PIF sent a letter to Macron requesting to send a Forum Ministerial Committee to Nouméa to gather information from all sides involved in the ongoing crisis.
Then the wait was on - a week or so passed and no word from Paris, all the while the initial communication and request was between New Caledonia and the PIF.
The day before the final high-level meeting, two weeks out from the leader's summit to be held in Nuku'alaofa, Roger-Lacan turned up at the PIF Foreign Ministers Meeting in Suva with a signed letter from Paris approving the mission.
RNZ understands this was not well-received by some ministers and leaders given it was a Forum-led mission and France does not have a seat at the table.
With a week out from the largest annual gathering of Pacific leaders, a decision of PIF involvement in the New Caledonia situation is set to be addressed.
Fijian PM Rabuka has spoken with French President Emanuel Macron at the weekend.
In a statement posted on X by the French Ambassador to the Pacific the President's office says the two leaders discussed the situation in New Caledonia on Saturday.
Roger-Lacan said the Pacific mission to New Caledonia is a "goodwill in international relations".
"The French State stands ready to host an information mission, when conditions permit, in conjunction with the local authorities," according to a statement from Macron's office posted on X by Roger-Lacan.
RNZ Pacific is still waiting on confirmation of the dates for what is expected to be the first of a number of visits by the Forum.
We understand the leaders of Cook Islands and Fiji were set to arrive in New Caledonia this week for a visit between 20 to 24 August.
