'Free Kanaky': NZ urged to get tough on New Caledonia's third referendum

New Zealand should take a tougher approach to France and join others in calling New Caledonia's third referendum invalid, a founder of the Kanaky Aotearoa Solidarity Network says.

David Small's comments follow Air New Zealand's decision this week to extend its cancellation of flights to the French Pacific territory until September.

New Caledonia has been rocked with political unrest after a pro-independence protest, 'Free Kanaky', on 13 May - against President Emmanuel Macron's decision to make more French nationals eligible to vote - erupted into scenes of rioting and looting in the capital Noumēa.

Violent clashes between police and protesters left 10 people dead, hundreds injured and dozens arrested including youth.

Small told Pacific Mornings' William Terite that there was no end in sight to the political crises.

"There's still conflicts going on that we don't necessarily always see here. A lot of conflict between Kanak youth and the French military that is still kind of moving in on people and so on.

"Also, some quite bad settler backlash. The day before yesterday [Monday], the tomb of High Chief Ataī, who was the leader of the 1878 revolt, was smashed up and desecrated in a horrible, horrible attack.

"I think that's an indication that the settler population there is feeling quite threatened. I think the balance of power swung badly against them when they were feeling very confident in themselves."

At the recent Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM) in Tokyo, New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Vaovasamanaia Winston Peters called on the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) to help mediate in the French territory.

Peters weighed in on the referendum, calling for "more compromise" on New Caledonia.

He said it followed the "letter" of agreements on a pathway to self-determination, but not the "spirit".

"To any outsider, the obvious democratic injury of a vastly reduced, and therefore different, sample of voters engaging in the third referendum raises questions about its legitimacy," he said.

"The situation has reached an impasse, and one not easily navigated given the violence that broke out, and democratic injuries that have reopened old wounds, and created new ones," he said, calling for "more diplomacy, more engagement, more compromise".

But Small said Peters' calls did not go as far as supporting the Kanaks.

Pro-independence supporters in the New Caledonian capital Noumēa. Photo/supplied

He said New Zealand should align itself with the Melanesian Spearhead Group which the Kanaks are a member.

"Peters' call doesn't go far enough. It doesn't go far enough in support of independence, and it doesn't go nearly far enough in terms of holding France to account.

"France has got a bad record in the Pacific. The nuclear testings [between 1966 and 1996], the Rainbow Warrior bombing [1985], and the Ouvēa massacre [1988].

"What it's just tried to do in New Caledonia recently, that everybody, now even accepts it was something it shouldn't have been doing. If they wanna be part of the Pacific region, they need to earn that trust back and they are not going the right way about it.

"And he [Peters] was way too conciliatory, I thought. I think France needs to be reminded, especially in a forum like that, that what's going on in New Caledonia is not just a matter of its domestic politics.

"It has been recognised by the international community as a colonial situation that requires being addressed in the context of decolonisation. And what that means is that the international community has a say and so I would have liked to see New Zealand pushing harder for a UN delegation.

"I'd also like to see a clearer statement that NZ doesn't just want to see dialogue among the parties in New Caledonia. NZ supports the rights of Kanak people to independence."

Small said New Zealand should urge France to prepare New Caledonia for that independence. Yet, Macron has done nothing, he added.

The Indigenous Kanak population in New Caledonia boycotted the second referendum in 2021 out of respect for the loss of loved ones due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Macron has postponed the third referendum, instead calling for fresh elections three weeks ago which saw his liberal Renaissance (RE) party form a last-minute agreement with right-leaning lawmakers to win a key vote in parliament.

This also opened the door to the French president playing a greater-than-expected role in forming the next government.

Small said Macron took a "terrible" position. One of the worst positions New Caledonia has seen since the independence movement began, he added.

"It's every bit as bad as the position when the right-wing government came to power in 1986 which was the point when New Caledonia was put back UN Decolonisation Committee.

"That policy that Macron pushed through on the third referendum and his conclusion from that, that therefore independence was off the table and expecting that he could ram that home in New Caledonia couldn't be worse. Like trying to take independence off the table.

"As a result of the strong Kanak response, he had to withdraw that even before these elections happened. I hesitate to say it couldn't get any worse because the far-right absolutely could get worse.

"It's unimaginable, but that's a very scary force. The sort of French equivalent of National and Labour have combined to keep them out."

Small said the "progressive forces", and the left-wing alliance could have a significant influence on French politics.

Out of the 577 French MPs, two are from New Caledonia with one of them a pro-independence Kanak.