[ad_1]
Louis Mapou, President of the Government of New Caledonia (third from left), and Roch Wamitan, President of the National Assembly of New Caledonia (centre), hold a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron (second from right), New Caledonian elected officials and local representatives at the residence of French High Commissioner Louis Le Frand in Noumea.
photo: AFP/Ludovic Marin
Radio New Zealand Pacific understands a much-anticipated visit by senior Pacific leaders to New Caledonia has been “postponed” by the local government of the French territory.
Paris approved the move 10 days ago, when A letter hand-delivered by France’s top diplomat in the region Addressing the Chairperson and Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in Suva on behalf of President Emmanuel Macron.
Forum leaders wrote to Macron July Send a ministerial committee to Noumea to gather information from both sides in the current crisis, which began on 13 May, in order to The 53rd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Summit was held in Tongastarting next Monday.
The Pacific delegation, expected to depart this week, includes Pacific Islands Forum chair and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown and Fijian Prime Minister Sitiweni Rabuka.
However, pro-independence New Caledonia President Louis Mapou wants to postpone the visit “until a later date” because of disagreements between Paris and the local government over who will ultimately be in charge of the PIF delegation.
“The French government has decided to take sole control of the subject and purpose of the operation and its future outcome,” New Caledonian Congress President Roch Wamytan said in a statement to RNZ Pacific on Sunday.
“The French government wants to see the results of this visit and hopes that the delegation will condemn the violence in New Caledonia.”
Vamitan said that when France’s permanent representative to the Pacific, Veronique Roger-Lacan, presented the letter to the forum on August 10, “she stressed that it was obvious that France should organize this visit because it was France’s responsibility”.
He said Roger Lacan had not mentioned that New Caledonia was a full member of the Forum and that the request for the mission was made by President Mapu.
“We believe that the French government determined the purpose of this mission. We believe this is an unacceptable form of humiliation. Clearly, this way of operating is an anachronistic neo-colonial approach.
“What is even more unacceptable is that the three heads of state of Oceania were received by the High Commissioner of the French Republic.
“Our Oceanian homeland, the Pacific Islands Forum, cannot be treated with such contempt. That is why President Mapu refuses to endorse this backwards action by the administration against the Non-Self-Governing Territories.”
Wamitan said the Pacific Islands Forum was sending a delegation to one of its member states, and the French government was taking the opportunity to evade any responsibility for the current situation.
“President Mapou therefore believes that all the conditions for the successful completion of the mission have not yet been met, which is why, in the absence of any consideration and respect for the Government of New Caledonia, it would generally be wiser to postpone the mission to a later date.”
Roger Lacan said on Sunday that “France is ready to welcome such a mission.”
RNZ Pacific has contacted PIF and Brown for comment.
We understand that PIF will be issuing a statement.
The 53rd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Summit will be held from August 26 to 30.
photo: Photo courtesy Pacific Islands Forum
We know what happened
Mark Brown I have met with Mapou twice before via Zoom Japan Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM).
Discussions led to the idea of sending a special Pacific mission to Forum member State New Caledonia.
New Caledonia is a full voting member of the Pacific Islands Forum Since 2016. France is one of the Forum’s 21 dialogue partners.
Dr Tess Newton Cain, a Pacific researcher, said: “It makes sense for New Caledonia to join the EU because they are on the road to independence. Similarly, French Polynesia has been re-listed on the C24 (Special Committee on Decolonisation) list.”
At the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting, Pacific leaders announced that they wanted to send a high-level delegation to New Caledonia to investigate the political crisis ahead of the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting (to be held in Tonga in the last week of August).
Macron’s spokesman in New Caledonia, Roger Lacan, also attended PALM10 and met with some Pacific leaders outside the venue.
She told RNZ Pacific Brown did not answer her calls and made it clear France ‘decides who enters’ New Caledonia.
French Ambassador to the Pacific Véronique Roger-Lacan travels to Rarotonga in 2023 to attend the 52nd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting.
photo: RNZ Pacific Channel Photo/Lydia Lewis
Meanwhile, the Melenesian Spearhead Group (MSG) released A powerful statement About this matter.
MSG chair and Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlot Salwai told RNZ Pacific he had long supported independence for the Melanesian nation.
“We are not only members and neighbors of PIF, we are a family,” Salwai said.
Following the Japan meeting, the Pacific Islands Forum wrote to Macron requesting that the Forum’s Committee of Ministers be sent to Noumea to gather information from all parties involved in the current crisis.
Then the waiting began – about a week passed without any news from Paris, while the initial communication and request was between New Caledonia and the PIF.
The day before the final high-level meeting, two weeks before the leaders’ summit in Nuku’alofa, Roger Lacan arrived at the Pacific Islands Forum foreign ministers’ meeting in Suva carrying a signed letter from Paris approving the delegation.
RNZ understands that because it was a forum-led mission and France was not involved, it was not welcomed by some ministers and leaders.
The Pacific Islands Forum is due to make a decision on its involvement in New Caledonia a week before its biggest annual meeting of Pacific leaders.
Fijian Prime Minister Rabuka spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron over the weekend.
The French ambassador to the Pacific issued a statement on the 10th, saying that the president’s office said the two leaders discussed the situation in New Caledonia on Saturday.
Roger Larcan says Pacific mission to New Caledonia is “Goodwill in International Relations”.
According to a statement from Macron’s office published by Roger Lacan on X, “the French government stands ready to receive information missions in conjunction with local authorities whenever the conditions allow”.
RNZ Pacific is still waiting for confirmation of a date for the forum’s first visit.
We understand that the leaders of the Cook Islands and Fiji will arrive in New Caledonia this week for a visit from August 20 to 24.
[ad_2]
Source link
