Warning of ‘war’ over amendments
NOUMEA: A proindependence activist in New Caledonia is warning France to immediately halt planned constitution amendments or face ‘‘war’’.
The call for a Uturn follows proposed constitutional changes to voting rights which could increase the number of eligible antiindependence voters.
Pacific Independence Movement (le Mouvement des Oceaniens independantistes) spokesman Arnaud CholletLeakava was one of the thousands who took to the streets in the French territory’s capital, Noumea, in protest at the weekend.
He this week told RNZ Pacific tensions were high.
‘‘We are here to tell them we must not make this mistake,’’ CholletLeakava said.
‘‘Step by step, I think there will be war.’’
A nearby counterprotest in Noumea also had a large turnout.
People there wore the French flag, a contrast to the sea of blue, red, green and yellow representing the Kanak flag at the proindependence rally.
Proindependence protester Solange Ponija said the constitutional change would tip the balance of voting power to the French side.
She feared the indigenous people of New Caledonia, Kanak peoples, would lose in their fight for independence.
‘‘The law will make the Kanaky people a minority because it will open the electoral body to other people who are not Kanaky and who will give their opinion on the accession of Caledonia to full sovereignty,’’ Ponija said.
A French man who had lived in New Caledonia for two decades said independence or not, he just wanted peace.
The man — who wanted to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution — said he moved to New Caledonia knowing he would be living on colonised land.
Having experienced violence in 2019, the man begged both sides to be amicable.
‘‘[It’s] very complicated and very serious because if the law is not withdrawn and passed, we are clearly heading towards a civil war.’’
The constitutional change would allow any citizen who has lived in New Caledonia for at least 10 years to cast their vote at local elections. Endorsed by the French Senate earlier this month, the Bill will be debated next month. — RNZ