Patrick
Decloitre, Correspondent French Pacific
Desk
In New Caledonia, talks about the French Pacific
territory’s political future were progressing slowly between
visiting French Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls and all
sides of the political spectrum.
Valls arrived in New
Caledonia on Tuesday 29 April 2025, in another bid to pursue
and possibly finalise talks about New Caledonia’s political
future and status.
On Friday, a fresh meeting behind
closed doors was locally labelled as the first step into
negotiations, while previous rounds were considered as mere
“discussions”.
During the meeting, which again took
place at the French High commission in Nouméa, all
political parties were in attendance.
The “plenary”
session, however, was short-lived: it was suspended after
less than two hours, and the meeting was adjourned until
next week.
Instead, the aborted plenary was switched
back to a “bilateral” session with pro-independence parties,
it was reported.
The suspension was reported as due to
fresh “tensions” among political stakeholders, some
political parties arguing at one stage that they did not
have their followers’ mandate to further
commit.
During future sessions scheduled to re-start
Monday next week, Valls was still planning to submit a
document that is described as France’s proposal on New
Caledonia’s future political status.
Advertisement – scroll to continue reading
This includes New
Caledonia’s future relationship with France, its status, its
citizenship and the transfer of remaining key powers
(defence, law and order, currency, foreign affairs, justice)
from Paris to Nouméa.
Valls, who is visiting New
Caledonia for the third time since February 2025, said he
would stay in New Caledonia “as long as necessary” for an
inclusive and comprehensive agreement to be
reached.
More pragmatically, his stay in the French
Pacific archipelago could extend as far as 8 May 2025 with
another three full days of plenary meetings planned (Monday
5 to Wednesday 7 May 2025).
Earlier this week, Valls
also likened the current situation as “walking on a
tightrope above embers.”
“The choice is between an
agreement and chaos,” he told local media.
On both
sides of the discussion table, local parties are said to be
more vigilant than ever.
They have all stated earlier
that bearing in mind their respective demands, they were
“not ready to sign at all costs.”
Amid strong
opposition and polarisation between pro-independence parties
and those who want New Caledonia to remain part of France,
the talks aim to reach an agreement that would define New
Caledonia’s political and institutional future.
High
Commissioner Le Franc leaves
Friday’s short session
of political talks was also the last one to be attended by
outgoing French High Commissioner Louis Le Franc, who is
leaving the French Pacific after over two years to office,
as France’s representative.
He was the guest of honour
to a function on Friday night.
Le Franc’s tenure was
marked by the insurrectional riots that started on May 13,
2024.
And depending on the political camps in New
Caledonia, pro-independence or pro-Franc, he is regarded in
radically different ways.
His management of the civil
unrest was often criticised by pro-independence components,
including the more radical ones, who said he had taken
excessive measures (such as the curfew, the state of
emergency, the ban on sale and transportation of firearms
and ammunition). They had consistently demanded that Le
Franc leaves.
On the pro-France side, Le Franc’s
actions have been hailed, some going as far as stressing he
had “saved lives” through his security-focused
approach.
A ban on public demonstrations for the
Greater Nouméa area was lifted only recently, in April
2025.
And a new ban on the consumption of alcohol has
been reintroduced for May 2025, a precaution ahead of the
first anniversary of the 13 May 2024 riots.
Manuel
Valls said this week, in an interview with public
broadcaster NC la 1ère, that a special security set-up was
“already in place” for the riots’ first
anniversary.
It included extra police force, riot
squads and 20 Gendarmerie squads (about fifteen hundred
personnel).
Le Franc’s new posting is Prefect of the
department of Finistère in North-west mainland
France.
“I did what I had to do” (…) “Very frankly,
I sincerely believe we have averted a civil war”, Le Franc
told pro-France Radio Rythme Bleu on 18 April 2025.
He
said he would certainly come back to New Caledonia as his
daughter is married there.
His successor, 65-year-old
Jacques Billant, has extensive military experience and is
expected to arrive in Nouméa on Saturday
morning.
Talks “a positive signal to return peace and
stability” – Peters
During a visit in New Caledonia
on Thursday, New Zealand’s deputy Prime Minister and head of
diplomacy Winston Peters met French Minister Valls to cover
a wide range of pressing issues, including the post-riots
situation, almost one year ago.
The talks, labelled
“constructive and positive,” also included the new President
of New Caledonia, Alcide Ponga, who was elected in January
2025.
Peters said he came to New Caledonia “to listen
and learn, and to demonstrate New Zealand’s support for the
continuation of dialogue on New Caledonia’s institutional
future, led by Minister Valls.”
Those talks, which
include all tendencies of New Caledonia’s parties, “send a
positive signal to the Pacific region about the good faith
efforts underway to return peace and stability to New
Caledonia,” Peters says.
“Since last year’s crisis,
New Zealand has consistently said that no matter your
position on New Caledonia’s institutional future, violence
is not the answer – and progress can only be made through
careful, inclusive dialogue (…) New Zealand, just like
France and all our Pacific partners, wishes for a stable,
secure, prosperous and cohesive New
Caledonia.”
Military exercise “Southern
Cross”
While in New Caledonia, Peters also met New
Zealand Defence Force personnel taking part in the
French-hosted military exercise “Croix du Sud” (Southern
Cross) 2025 which took place during the second half of April
2025.
With a strong focus on humanitarian deployments
and disaster relief, the exercise was held in New Caledonia,
but also, for the first time, in Wallis and
Futuna.
The exercise, held every second year, is
hosted by the French Armed Forces in New Caledonia
(FANC).
It focuses on humanitarian assistance and
emergency response, with a strong emphasis on the notion of
“inter-operability” between all participating
forces.
This year, up to two thousand military
personnel and NGOs from 19 countries were taking part in the
manoeuvres, including key partners such as Australia, New
Zealand, the United States of America, but also Pacific
Island forces (Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Fiji,
Tonga).
The participating forces had to simulate, in
the most realistic conditions, the aftermath of a
devastating cyclone on Wallis Island (near Fiji) and the
deployment of air, sea and naval forces.
The
deployment also included a “special effects” unit (including
stocks of fake blood) for volunteers playing the role of
affected civilians.
Minister Valls was to attend the
official closing ceremony of “Southern Cross 2025” at the
weekend in Nouméa.
Security and “foreign
interference in the Pacific”
During their talks,
still along the lines of regional security, Valls and Peters
reaffirmed their “long-standing partnership” on Pacific
security issues.
“We have a shared interest in
ensuring that the Pacific Islands region is protected from
efforts by external influences to undermine good governance
and democratic decision making,” Peters said.
He
elaborated in referring to “foreign interference in the
Pacific.”
Since the insurrectional riots erupted on
May 13 2024, causing 14 dead and some 2.2 billion Euros in
damages, France claims that some foreign countries had
interfered.
Based on an investigation conducted late
2024 by French digital watch government agency VigiNum, the
name of Azerbaijan has been appearing consistently and
repeatedly.
During his visit in New Caledonia, Peters
was escorted by New Zealand’s Consul General in Nouméa,
Mary Thurston, as well as the Wellington-based French
Ambassador Laurence Beau and Nouméa-based French Ambassador
for the Pacific, Véronique Roger-Lacan.
“France and
New Zealand are like-minded countries, this means we defend
the same values, for example about Ukraine. And in the
Pacific, regarding New Caledonia, it’s really about how New
Zealand can support the French State’s commitment in favour
of condemning all violence in New Caledonia and supporting
dialogue to reach a solution”, Roger-Lacan told local media
on Thursday.
Peters returned to New Zealand on Friday.
An earlier visit, in May 2024, had to be postponed due to
the volatile situation at the time. It had to be rescheduled
to December 2024.
In the meantime, a delegation of
Pacific Islands Forum leaders also visited as part of a
fact-finding mission in October 2024.
The “Troika
Plus” Forum mission is expected to present its report on New
Caledonia at the next Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ summit
in Honiara, Solomon
Islands.
New Zealand’s public broadcaster, providing comprehensive NZ news and current affairs, specialist audio features and documentaries.
Radio New Zealand is a Crown entity established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. Radio New Zealand News are vital elements in our programming, providing impartial news and information to New Zealanders every day. Radio New Zealand (RNZ) provides listeners with exciting and independent radio programmes in accordance with the Radio New Zealand Charter.
