NOUMEA, 26 août 2011 (AFP) - Le président Nicolas Sarkozy a appelé vendredi au "compromis" pour apaiser les tensions en Nouvelle-Calédonie, au premier jour de la visite qu'il effectue, de vendredi à dimanche, sur cet archipel en cours de décolonisation.
Le chef de l'Etat est arrivé vendredi matin à Nouméa, en provenance de Pékin, pour une visite de deux jours et demi au cours de laquelle il ouvrira les XIVe Jeux du Pacifique (samedi soir).
Le 6 août, un conflit sur le prix des billets d'avion a dégénéré, sur l'île de Maré (environ 200 km à l'est de Nouméa), en affrontements qui se sont soldés par la mort de quatre jeunes Kanaks, tandis que trente autres étaient blessés.
C'est la première fois que M. Sarkozy se rend en Nouvelle-Calédonie, territoire d'outre-mer qui l'avait le mieux élu en 2007 (62,8%).
"Je reste convaincu, qu'y compris dans le camp des indépendantistes que je respecte, il y a un attachement, aussi, pour la France, pour l'histoire commune" et qu'"il y a même de l'inquiétude à l'idée qu'on se sépare (...) mais réfléchissons, il va bien falloir faire des compromis", a lancé M. Sarkozy aux élus calédoniens, lors d'une table ronde au Haut-Commissariat à Nouméa.
En vertu de l'accord de Nouméa, signé en 1998, un referendum d'autodétermination doit être organisé entre 2014 et 2018. Pour éviter ce vote couperet, la droite non-indépendantiste et les indépendantistes kanaks réfléchissent à l'élaboration d'un statut consensuel.
"Des deux côtés, il y a eu un travail de remise en cause des fondamentaux qui s'est engagé", s'est félicité le président. "Vous avez mis du pragmatisme dans vos idées", a-t-il ajouté.
Dans cette logique, le leader indépendantiste Paul Neaoutyine, président de la province nord, a admis qu'il fallait "construire un avenir solidaire" tandis que le député UMP Pierre Frogier a appelé à "construire, ensemble, alors que nos aspirations ne sont pas les mêmes".
Auparavant, le chef de l'Etat s'était rendu au Sénat coutumier pour exprimer son "respect de la culture kanak". Le président de cette assemblée, Pascal Sihazé, lui a lancé: "M. le président de la République, n'ayez pas peur des Kanaks", s'attirant aussitôt cette réponse de Nicolas Sarkozy: "M. le président du Sénat coutumier, n'ayez pas peur de la République française".
Le chef de l'Etat est arrivé vendredi matin à Nouméa, en provenance de Pékin, pour une visite de deux jours et demi au cours de laquelle il ouvrira les XIVe Jeux du Pacifique (samedi soir).
Le 6 août, un conflit sur le prix des billets d'avion a dégénéré, sur l'île de Maré (environ 200 km à l'est de Nouméa), en affrontements qui se sont soldés par la mort de quatre jeunes Kanaks, tandis que trente autres étaient blessés.
C'est la première fois que M. Sarkozy se rend en Nouvelle-Calédonie, territoire d'outre-mer qui l'avait le mieux élu en 2007 (62,8%).
"Je reste convaincu, qu'y compris dans le camp des indépendantistes que je respecte, il y a un attachement, aussi, pour la France, pour l'histoire commune" et qu'"il y a même de l'inquiétude à l'idée qu'on se sépare (...) mais réfléchissons, il va bien falloir faire des compromis", a lancé M. Sarkozy aux élus calédoniens, lors d'une table ronde au Haut-Commissariat à Nouméa.
En vertu de l'accord de Nouméa, signé en 1998, un referendum d'autodétermination doit être organisé entre 2014 et 2018. Pour éviter ce vote couperet, la droite non-indépendantiste et les indépendantistes kanaks réfléchissent à l'élaboration d'un statut consensuel.
"Des deux côtés, il y a eu un travail de remise en cause des fondamentaux qui s'est engagé", s'est félicité le président. "Vous avez mis du pragmatisme dans vos idées", a-t-il ajouté.
Dans cette logique, le leader indépendantiste Paul Neaoutyine, président de la province nord, a admis qu'il fallait "construire un avenir solidaire" tandis que le député UMP Pierre Frogier a appelé à "construire, ensemble, alors que nos aspirations ne sont pas les mêmes".
Auparavant, le chef de l'Etat s'était rendu au Sénat coutumier pour exprimer son "respect de la culture kanak". Le président de cette assemblée, Pascal Sihazé, lui a lancé: "M. le président de la République, n'ayez pas peur des Kanaks", s'attirant aussitôt cette réponse de Nicolas Sarkozy: "M. le président du Sénat coutumier, n'ayez pas peur de la République française".
"Si nous n'avons pas peur des uns et des autres, alors, nous construirons un avenir ensemble (...) Nous sommes prêts à aller très loin dans la spécificité de la Nouvelle-Calédonie", a insisté M. Sarkozy quelques heures plus tard, en visitant un quartier socialement mixte de la capitale dont les habitants, drapeau tricolore à la main pour beaucoup d'entre eux, se sont pressés pour le saluer et le photographier.
Lors de la table ronde, M. Sarkozy a insisté sur "l'impasse" que représente à ses yeux, la violence. Condamnant sévèrement les événements de Maré, il a appelé "très solennellement, les autorités coutumières de l'île de Maré à régler leurs différends autrement que par la force".
"Rien ne justifie la mort de quatre personnes dans de pareilles circonstances", avait-il affirmé dès son arrivée, lors d'un discours devant le monument aux morts, dans lequel il a salué le ralliement précoce, six jours après l'appel du 18 juin du général de Gaulle, de la Nouvelle-Calédonie à la France libre.
Selon lui, "la fusillade de Maré est à rebours de l'immense chemin parcouru par la Calédonie depuis la fin des années 1980".
"En Calédonie, moins qu'ailleurs, on ne peut tolérer la première violence, parce que la mèche peut être toute petite qui fait le grand incendie", a-t-il mis en garde.
cw-npk/rh/jmg
Lors de la table ronde, M. Sarkozy a insisté sur "l'impasse" que représente à ses yeux, la violence. Condamnant sévèrement les événements de Maré, il a appelé "très solennellement, les autorités coutumières de l'île de Maré à régler leurs différends autrement que par la force".
"Rien ne justifie la mort de quatre personnes dans de pareilles circonstances", avait-il affirmé dès son arrivée, lors d'un discours devant le monument aux morts, dans lequel il a salué le ralliement précoce, six jours après l'appel du 18 juin du général de Gaulle, de la Nouvelle-Calédonie à la France libre.
Selon lui, "la fusillade de Maré est à rebours de l'immense chemin parcouru par la Calédonie depuis la fin des années 1980".
"En Calédonie, moins qu'ailleurs, on ne peut tolérer la première violence, parce que la mèche peut être toute petite qui fait le grand incendie", a-t-il mis en garde.
cw-npk/rh/jmg
Sarkozy urges rival clans not to resort to violence
NOUMÉA, Friday 26 August 2011 (Oceania Flash) – French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who arrived on Friday in New Caledonia for a three-day official visit which also marks his first time in the Pacific region since he came into office in 2007, has “solemnly” called on rivals clans that clashed earlier this month to “settle their differences otherwise than by force”.
The French head of state made the statement during a speech in central Nouméa on Friday, only minutes after he SET foot on the French Pacific territory.
Sarkozy arrives in this French Pacific territory amidst tensions that have recently arisen, especially unrest on the Loyalty island of Maré, where rival clans have clashed on August 6 over an airport blockade SET up by a group of residents protesting against an announced increase in domestic airfares.
The August 6 clashes left four dead and over thirty injured.
Since then, an uneasy truce has prevailed on Maré, while a heavy contingent of over 120 police and military remained deployed to avoid any further unrest.
“No one can accept (these tragic events)… And nothing can justify the death of four persons in such circumstances”, Sarkozy told the crowd.
« New Caledonia is an example of peace, dialogue and respect of each other’s differences. It has already paid an all too heavy price for its internal divisions”, he went on in a direct reference to the grave civil unrest that rocked New Caledonia in the mid-1980s.
“Customary, union or political fights must be settled through dialogue, exchange and if need be by elections, but never through violence”, he said.
The sensitive issue of domestic airfare imposed by local airline Air Calédonie (AirCal), which was seen as one of the causes of the clashes on Maré, was on Friday mid-day the main purpose of a meeting held at the French High Commission with all stakeholders, including the local autonomous government (which is the main shareholder in AirCal).
Tribute to the World War veterans
During his morning speech in central Nouméa, at the War Memorial, Sarkozy also paid a long tribute to the men from New Caledonia and Polynesia who had fought during the first and second World Wars.
He also recalled that under the German occupation of France, it was a resident French administrator in then French-British New Hebrides, Henri Sautot, who, in 1940, was the first to rally De Gaulle’s call for resistance and a Free France and eventually travelled to New Caledonia to take over from a more German-docile Administrator.
“The Pacific has offered the Free France its first piece of sovereignty … And during this summer of 1940, this resounded as a note of hope for General de Gaulle”, Sarkozy said, recalling that this was also the starting point for New Caledonia to become one of the main strategic bases for the US Army to counter the advances of the Japanese in the Pacific.
This year marks the seventieth anniversary of the creation of the so-called “Pacific Battalion” (created in 1941).
The Battalion consisted of men from New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, French Polynesia and the then New Hebrides (which gained independence to become Vanuatu in 1980).
Gifts from the Chiefs
On Friday, Sarkozy also met with New Caledonia’s Great council of Chiefs, the Customary Senate and its President Pascal Sihazé who gave him a piece of art sculpted by artists from all eight chiefly areas of New Caledonia.
The sculpture represents a yam root, a taro leaf and a turtle.
The President also received an emblematic Kanak hut roof-top arrow, as well as a whale’s tooth.
Pacific Games
The highlight of his three-day stay is expected to be on Saturday 27 August evening, when he officially opens the 14th Pacific Games, held this year in New Caledonia.
On the political front, New Caledonia’s situation over the past seven months has also been complicated by rifts both within the pro-France and the pro-independence camps, causing instability within the power-sharing government.
Political rumblings
New Caledonia’s political situation is SET up following the main guidelines provided by the Nouméa Accord.
The pact, which highlights the notions of “common destiny” for all of New Caledonia’s ethnic groups, was signed in May 1998 between pro-France, pro-independence (mainly indigenous Kanak) local parties and the French government.
It paves the way for a gradual transfer of powers from the metropolitan power to local authorities, as well as a window of opportunity for a self-determination referendum to take place sometime between 2014 and 2018, as part of a UN-monitored decolonisation process.
In the meantime, New Caledonia has been encouraged to explore every possible solution or formula for its institutional future, based on existing examples both in the Pacific region and beyond.
In terms of New Caledonia’s identity, one particular sensitive issue, over the past twelve months, has been the flag.
On the occasion of the visit, in July 2010, of French Prime minister François Fillon, the “double-flag” solution was officially endorsed and therefore, during the Pacific Games as a first opportunity, both the French tricolour flag (blue, white, red) and the colourful pro-independence FLNKS flag will be hoisted.
During his visit in New Caledonia, under heavy security, Sarkozy will be flanked by his minister for overseas countries and territories, Marie-Luce Penchard, his minister for sports Chantal Jouanno, as well as several high-profile French sport personalities.
Sarkozy has already announced he would touch on sensitive issues such as security and the fight against a perceived rising criminality, especially in the urban areas of Nouméa and its greater area where large numbers of New Caledonians from other less favoured provinces (North and Loyalty islands) have chosen to migrate.
He is scheduled to officially open a new police post in a sensitive Nouméa neighbourhood.
Sarkozy is also expected to hold talks with a wide spectrum of the political, economic and social stakeholders.
On the economic front, the French Head of State will also pay a visit to the construction sites of New Caledonia’s five-billion-US dollar Northern nickel mine, driven by Swiss mining giant Xstrata in partnership with local partner Société Minière du Sud Pacifique (SMSP).
The Koniambo project as it is called is expected to be commissioned sometime in 2012.
The world class mining project is also part of a political process of “rebalancing” of economic wealth in New Caledonia and is the pendant of another world class project located in Goro (South of the main island of Grande Terre), this one driven by Brazilian giant Vale and about to become operational this year.
All public services, including schools, have been closed for the day on Friday in New Caledonia.
pad
The French head of state made the statement during a speech in central Nouméa on Friday, only minutes after he SET foot on the French Pacific territory.
Sarkozy arrives in this French Pacific territory amidst tensions that have recently arisen, especially unrest on the Loyalty island of Maré, where rival clans have clashed on August 6 over an airport blockade SET up by a group of residents protesting against an announced increase in domestic airfares.
The August 6 clashes left four dead and over thirty injured.
Since then, an uneasy truce has prevailed on Maré, while a heavy contingent of over 120 police and military remained deployed to avoid any further unrest.
“No one can accept (these tragic events)… And nothing can justify the death of four persons in such circumstances”, Sarkozy told the crowd.
« New Caledonia is an example of peace, dialogue and respect of each other’s differences. It has already paid an all too heavy price for its internal divisions”, he went on in a direct reference to the grave civil unrest that rocked New Caledonia in the mid-1980s.
“Customary, union or political fights must be settled through dialogue, exchange and if need be by elections, but never through violence”, he said.
The sensitive issue of domestic airfare imposed by local airline Air Calédonie (AirCal), which was seen as one of the causes of the clashes on Maré, was on Friday mid-day the main purpose of a meeting held at the French High Commission with all stakeholders, including the local autonomous government (which is the main shareholder in AirCal).
Tribute to the World War veterans
During his morning speech in central Nouméa, at the War Memorial, Sarkozy also paid a long tribute to the men from New Caledonia and Polynesia who had fought during the first and second World Wars.
He also recalled that under the German occupation of France, it was a resident French administrator in then French-British New Hebrides, Henri Sautot, who, in 1940, was the first to rally De Gaulle’s call for resistance and a Free France and eventually travelled to New Caledonia to take over from a more German-docile Administrator.
“The Pacific has offered the Free France its first piece of sovereignty … And during this summer of 1940, this resounded as a note of hope for General de Gaulle”, Sarkozy said, recalling that this was also the starting point for New Caledonia to become one of the main strategic bases for the US Army to counter the advances of the Japanese in the Pacific.
This year marks the seventieth anniversary of the creation of the so-called “Pacific Battalion” (created in 1941).
The Battalion consisted of men from New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, French Polynesia and the then New Hebrides (which gained independence to become Vanuatu in 1980).
Gifts from the Chiefs
On Friday, Sarkozy also met with New Caledonia’s Great council of Chiefs, the Customary Senate and its President Pascal Sihazé who gave him a piece of art sculpted by artists from all eight chiefly areas of New Caledonia.
The sculpture represents a yam root, a taro leaf and a turtle.
The President also received an emblematic Kanak hut roof-top arrow, as well as a whale’s tooth.
Pacific Games
The highlight of his three-day stay is expected to be on Saturday 27 August evening, when he officially opens the 14th Pacific Games, held this year in New Caledonia.
On the political front, New Caledonia’s situation over the past seven months has also been complicated by rifts both within the pro-France and the pro-independence camps, causing instability within the power-sharing government.
Political rumblings
New Caledonia’s political situation is SET up following the main guidelines provided by the Nouméa Accord.
The pact, which highlights the notions of “common destiny” for all of New Caledonia’s ethnic groups, was signed in May 1998 between pro-France, pro-independence (mainly indigenous Kanak) local parties and the French government.
It paves the way for a gradual transfer of powers from the metropolitan power to local authorities, as well as a window of opportunity for a self-determination referendum to take place sometime between 2014 and 2018, as part of a UN-monitored decolonisation process.
In the meantime, New Caledonia has been encouraged to explore every possible solution or formula for its institutional future, based on existing examples both in the Pacific region and beyond.
In terms of New Caledonia’s identity, one particular sensitive issue, over the past twelve months, has been the flag.
On the occasion of the visit, in July 2010, of French Prime minister François Fillon, the “double-flag” solution was officially endorsed and therefore, during the Pacific Games as a first opportunity, both the French tricolour flag (blue, white, red) and the colourful pro-independence FLNKS flag will be hoisted.
During his visit in New Caledonia, under heavy security, Sarkozy will be flanked by his minister for overseas countries and territories, Marie-Luce Penchard, his minister for sports Chantal Jouanno, as well as several high-profile French sport personalities.
Sarkozy has already announced he would touch on sensitive issues such as security and the fight against a perceived rising criminality, especially in the urban areas of Nouméa and its greater area where large numbers of New Caledonians from other less favoured provinces (North and Loyalty islands) have chosen to migrate.
He is scheduled to officially open a new police post in a sensitive Nouméa neighbourhood.
Sarkozy is also expected to hold talks with a wide spectrum of the political, economic and social stakeholders.
On the economic front, the French Head of State will also pay a visit to the construction sites of New Caledonia’s five-billion-US dollar Northern nickel mine, driven by Swiss mining giant Xstrata in partnership with local partner Société Minière du Sud Pacifique (SMSP).
The Koniambo project as it is called is expected to be commissioned sometime in 2012.
The world class mining project is also part of a political process of “rebalancing” of economic wealth in New Caledonia and is the pendant of another world class project located in Goro (South of the main island of Grande Terre), this one driven by Brazilian giant Vale and about to become operational this year.
All public services, including schools, have been closed for the day on Friday in New Caledonia.
pad
