MARSEILLE, France (CN) — France is sending 1,000 more officers to New Caledonia in an effort to stop deadly riots in the territory — about 750 miles east of Australia — sparked by an electoral reform that critics say contradicts official efforts to give the territory more independence.
The violence has caused concern about a potential civil war. At least five people have been killed since May 13. Circulation is restricted. Roads are barricaded, causing unease over access to food and medical supplies, and the capital Nouméa’s airport will be closed until at least May 21. Buildings have been set on fire.
"Nothing can ever justify violence," French Prime Minster Gabriel Attal said in an announcement. "Our absolute priority for the next few hours is the return to order and calm."
French troops began arriving Thursday, with a total of 2,700 expected by Friday.
France declared a state of emergency, which allows security forces to bypass normal judicial barriers to carry out procedures like home searches and house arrests. A curfew is in place and TikTok has been banned.
The worst riots in New Caledonia since the 1980s were triggered by France’s approval of an amendment to extend voting rights to people who have lived in the South Pacific islands for 10 years or more, which will add roughly 25,000 people to the electorate of about 180,000.
Some argue the move dilutes the voice of the indigenous Kanak population and effectively undoes France's agreement to gradually facilitate the territory's independence.
The territory's population was 269,220 in 2022 and Kanaks make up around 41.5%.
Expanding the electorate will tilt the territory’s dominant voice in favor of European settlers, and away from the native Kanak population. Experts argue this decision shows a French divergence from the 1998 Nouméa Accord that promised a 20-year pathway to decolonization. The previous restrictions on voting rights were part of the agreement.
France annexed New Caledonia in 1853 under Napoleon III, when it was used as a penal colony. Tens of thousands of convicts were transferred there throughout the late 19th century.
During the late 19th and 20th centuries, Kanaks were largely isolated and forced onto reservations while the French Empire brought laborers in from overseas.
By the 1950s and '60s, the indigenous population had lost 80% of their land, making them a minority for the first time, according to Adrian Muckle, a senior lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington and expert on New Caledonia. Kanaks were given the right to vote in New Caledonia in 1957, over 100 years after the territory became French.
Violence erupted in the 1980s, in a period that is now referred to as “the events,” when uprisings triggered France to launch the Nouméa Accord and set forth a pathway to independence.
“The legacy of colonialism is still very strong in New Caledonia,” Muckle said. “There are other legacies in terms of economic disparities.”
“There are quite entrenched inequalities in part because our education systems and economic systems were not adapted for Kanaks,” he continued. “So virtually all of the key economic and social data generally shows that Kanak are disadvantaged in that respect.”
In the framework of the Nouméa Accord, the French government promised to give Kanaks more political power and independence over the course of a 20-year period. Three referendums were held in 2018, 2020 and 2021 as part of the agreement; while the 2018 and 2020 votes saw around 43%-47% in favor of independence, the 2021 turnout saw roughly 3.5% in favor, prompting French President Emmanuel Macron to conclude that New Caledonia wanted to remain a part of France.
This led to major controversy. At the time of the third referendum, the Kanak population was disproportionately suffering from Covid-19 and many people boycotted the vote. While 2020 voter turnout was at almost 90%, that number fell to 44% in 2021.
“The longer-term cause of all of this is the failure of the French government in 2021 to organize the third of the independence referenda that was scheduled under the 1998 Nouméa Accord,” Muckle told Courthouse News. “The first two referenda took place very successfully, but the third took place in highly contested conditions … . It's that sort of moral political failure to conduct a referendum that was beyond any kind of reproach.”
There are various reasons that France could want to keep a grasp on New Caledonia.
“Prestige has always been a factor; New Caledonia, along with France's other territories in the Pacific, helps France maintain a profile in the Pacific region,” Muckle said. It also holds between 10%-30% of the world’s nickel reserve, although production has recently been plummeting.
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