France says no alternative to New Caledonia referendum

Transcript

France says there is no alternative to New Caledonia having an independence referendum by 2018.

This was clarified by the President Francois Hollande during his brief visit to the territory.

A vote is expected by 2018.

I asked my colleague Walter Zweifel whether this was a surprise.

WALTER ZWEIFEL: No, not really. Because the Noumea Accord provides for a referendum that is to be organised by the territorial congress by 2017. Mr Hollande said if the congress has not done that by 2017, France will organise one the following year. And he says New Caledonia has to comply with this timeframe because changes have been made to the French constitution in order to fit this in. He also says that France will honour its pledge and leave it to the New Caledonian people to decide what sort of future they would like to have.

DON WISEMAN: Yes, and yet we know that a lot of people in New Caledonia don't want it.

WZ: Well, that's true. There are some politicians who would like to defer this. We have to remember that we had the Matignon Accords, that was a sort of a peace settlement in 1988, lasting 10 years. And instead of having a referendum then the Noumea Accord was forged in 1998, to give New Caledonia another 20-year window which is now going to expire. So some people think there should be a further accord to try to defer any decision but Mr Hollande says no, there has to be a vote this time. We also have to remember that there is a push by some politicians to have a referendum as soon as possible. The argument there is that once the referendum is held and expecting a victory for the no, that the independence question will be sorted and eliminated from the public debate.

DW: While President Hollande was in New Caledonia, there were significant protests over this matter?

WZ: Well there was a mass rally by thousands of people coming out in favour of France saying they want to stay French. That's the sign of how people feel in the Noumea area which is the mainly white area of New Caledonia and the hub of economic activity.

DW: We know that the Kanaks in New Caledonia are very keen to have this vote. What's their reaction to what Mr Hollande has been saying?

WZ: Let's say there's an expectation within the nationalist Kanak movement that the decolonisation process under the Noumea Accord will lead to independence. So for some of these Kanaks it is a process that can only lead to independence. What shape that will have is unclear. We have to say that the FLNKS movement has a strong faction in the Caledonian Union which says that the lists for the vote that is to be held are rigged. They still say that there are so many people on the lists that should not be allowed to vote and there are people i.e. Kanaks who are not on the list and are being kept off. So the Kanak position there is very firm, that they want to have these lists revisited, there's talk about inviting the United Nations to clarify the lists with their argument being that France is not equidistant between the pro and the independence side, because on one side there is a fraudulent list, and on the other side is the Noumea Accord, which is a clear definition. So the way forward is not quite clear, we have strongly opposed views on how they should proceed.