French Pacific News Briefs

Teahupoo’s Olympic legacy

The French Olympic surfing competition was once held on Teahupoo Beach in Tahiti, and has now become a precious heritage for local residents.

Among the infrastructure built specifically to accommodate enthusiasts, the Teahupoo commune now has a brand new pier and a bridge.

The once controversial referee tower will also be re-erected during the next World Surf League international competition.

Even the signs, panels and tarps bearing the green, blue, pink and purple Paris 2024 logo are currently being recycled.

Local humanitarian foundation FACE Polynésie has taken on the task of this large-scale “upcycling”, which includes the production of one thousand pencil cases and one thousand school bags.

The school supplies will be donated to a local association that helps the disadvantaged by the end of September. Tahiti Nui TV Report.

Historic gold medal surfer hailed as hero

Hometown surfer Kauli Vaast, 22, the first French and Polynesian to win gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics, received a hero’s welcome at the weekend.

Hundreds of supporters gathered for a grand welcome for him on Friday evening (Thursday Tahiti time), with Tahitian singing and dancing and plenty of flower garlands.

Waster also spent some time surfing the Seine River in Paris after his historic win before returning to French Polynesia.

Air Tahiti union rejected by members

The move by Air Tahiti has been met with public opposition from its members, and as a result, the union’s leaders have now withdrawn their threat to strike.

Domestic airlines Moana Air and Air Tahiti and international airline Air Tahiti Nui have previously announced their intention to strike.

The Moana Air Union has withdrawn its last strike notice as a result of signing a memorandum of agreement with the company’s management.

Employees who are members of the union also attended the event to express their dissatisfaction with the strike notice.

“We are not just pawns on a chessboard. The decision to strike must be made at the grassroots level and then pushed upwards. Not the other way around. In this case, some people made the decision for us and asked us to strike,” Titana Wiriamu, secretary general of the Navigation Employees Union, told reporters. Polynesian One.

“I don’t need their approval to file a claim because I know these problems are not new, including the employment of part-time workers,” said Cyril Legayic, secretary general of the CSIP union.

At this time of year, domestic airlines are faced with the task of transporting thousands of students from French Polynesia’s outer islands back to secondary schools on the main island of Tahiti, an area the size of Europe.

However, the strike movement at Airports Tahiti (ADT), which manages Tahiti Faa’a International Airport in Tahiti, continues and the issue remains unresolved.

Papeete appoints new prosecutor

Frédéric Benet-Chambellan, 62, is the new prosecutor of Papeete, replacing the outgoing Thomas Pison.

Benet-Chambellan served in several cities across France, including Rennes and Rouen.

This is his first posting in a French overseas entity.

He said he intended to continue the priorities his predecessor had taken on crime in previous years, including combating drug trafficking (particularly crystal methamphetamine), domestic violence and road fatalities.

Church attacked by arson

Yet another church in New Caledonia has been targeted by arsonists.

On the evening of Wednesday 14 August, the Tyé Church in the town of Poindimié was burned down.

Noumea prosecutor Yves Dupas said an investigation was underway to identify those responsible for the “intolerable” actions.

In the past few weeks, several other important Catholic church buildings in New Caledonia have also been attacked and destroyed to varying degrees.

These include the historic Catholic missions at Saint-Louis (near Noumea), Wao (Ile des Pines), Tuo, and the Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Noumea.

Nickel mining site partially destroyed

Last week, mining facilities at the nickel mining site in Tío (on the east coast of the main island of Grande Terre) were partially destroyed.

The facilities belong to S.A. de Nickel (SLN), a subsidiary of French mining giant Eramet, which also owns one of the three nickel smelters of the French Pacific entity.

Among the damage was a nickel ore conveyor belt, known locally as the “Serpentine”, which allegedly put at risk the employment of hundreds of workers, either directly employed by SLN or by subcontractors.

SLN director general Guillaume Kurek said the action, “carried out by a small group of people,” could affect “more than two thousand people” and their families.

On Thursday, August 15, 2024, gendarmes clashed with a group of thugs on a bridge leading to Thio, leaving one person dead, and another incident occurred a few hours later.

French security forces said they tried to dismantle the barricades but used firearms after coming under fire from rioters.

Prosecutor Yves Dupas told local media that various parties, including the French gendarmerie’s internal department, have launched an investigation into the incident.

U.S. Coast Guard ship docks in Tahiti

U.S. Coast Guard ship Harriet Lane It was in Papeete this weekend having just concluded a two-month Pacific monitoring mission codenamed “Blue Pacific”, which has taken it to Tuvalu, Tonga, Samoa, Niue and the Cook Islands.

U.S. ships have worked with the French Navy based in Tahiti on several occasions in the Pacific, particularly on missions such as search and rescue and surveillance of illegal and unreported fishing vessels.

U.S. Coast Guard patrol boat Harriet Lane (WMEC 903) rejoined the U.S. Fleet at Pearl Harbor in December 2023.

Commander Nicole Tesonillo told local media the ship was to support the U.S. government’s Indo-Pacific strategy and “help increase the Coast Guard’s presence in the Pacific island nations.”

During his stay in Tahiti, Commander Tesoniero also met with the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre of French Polynesia (JRCC).