Violence rages in New Caledonia as France rushes security forces to islands

Violence rages in New Caledonia as France rushes security forces to islands

Sub: IR

Sec: Places in news

Context:

• Violence continued in New Caledonia for a third day, following France’s declaration of a state of emergency in the French Pacific territory.

Details:

• This move was intended to address deadly unrest fueled by long-standing independence desires among some residents.
• The violence, which erupted after protests against voting reforms by President Emmanuel Macron’s government, has resulted in five deaths.
• Among the deceased were two members of the Indigenous Kanak community.
• The pro-independence movement is known as The Field Acton Coordination Unit.

About New Caledonia:

• New Caledonia is a sui generis collectivity of overseas France in the southwest Pacific Ocean, south of Vanuatu, about 1,210 km (750 mi) east of Australia, and 17,000 km (11,000 mi) from Metropolitan France. 
• Capital- Nouméa.
• The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Chesterfield Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of Pines, and a few remote islets.
• The Chesterfield Islands are in the Coral Sea.
• French people, especially locals, call Grande Terre “Le Caillou” (“the pebble”).
• New Caledonia is one of the European Union’s Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) but is not part of the European Union.
• New Caledonia has a land area of 18,575 km2 (7,172 sq mi) divided into three provinces.
• The North and South Provinces are on the New Caledonian mainland, while the Loyalty Islands Province is a series of three islands off the east coast of the mainland.
• Demography:
  • New Caledonia’s population is of diverse origins and varies by geography; in the North and Loyalty Islands Provinces, the indigenous Kanak people predominate, while the wealthy South Province contains significant populations of European (Caldoches and Metropolitan French), Kanak, and Polynesian (mostly Wallisian) origin, as well as smaller groups of Southeast Asian, Pied-Noir, and North African heritage.
• Geography:
  • New Caledonia was part of the continent Zealandia, which broke off from the supercontinent Gondwana between 79 million and 83 million years ago
• Cultural significance:
  • In 2008, six lagoons of the New Caledonian barrier reef, the world’s longest continuous barrier reef system, were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
• British exploration:
  • British explorer James Cook was the first European to sight New Caledonia.
• French colonialism:
  • On 24 September 1853, under orders from Emperor Napoleon III, Admiral Febvrier Despointes took formal possession of New Caledonia.
  • Captain Louis-Marie-François Tardy de Montravel founded Port-de-France (Nouméa) on 25 June 1854.
  • In 1946, New Caledonia became an overseas territory.
  • By 1953, French citizenship had been granted to all New Caledonians, regardless of ethnicity.
• Kanak Independence Movement:
  • 1976 and 1988: The periods of serious violence and disorder by the Kanak indigenous people, referred to as ‘the events’.
• The Matignon Agreements, signed on 26 June 1988, ensured a decade of stability. The Nouméa Accord, signed on 5 May 1998, set the groundwork for a 20-year transition that gradually transferred competencies to the local government.