President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, June 24, invited New Caledonian leaders to talks next week on the future of the French overseas territory, a year after deadly separatist violence in the Pacific archipelago. The French president, in an invitation letter obtained by Agence France-Presse (AFP), said discussions would last "as long as necessary" to address key issues "with all the seriousness they deserve." "Beyond major institutional topics, I would like for our discussions to touch on economic and societal matters," Macron added.
The president's decision to host the talks, alongside the French Overseas Territories Minister Manuel Valls, also comes after a French court freed independence leader Christian Tein in June. Tein, who hails from the indigenous Kanak people, had been held in custody in eastern France since June 2024 over the rioting in the nickel-rich archipelago.
Home to around 270,000 people and located nearly 17,000 kilometers from Paris, New Caledonia is one of several overseas territories that remain an integral part of France. New Caledonia has been ruled from Paris since the 1800s, but many indigenous Kanaks still resent France's power over their islands and want fuller autonomy or independence.
Unrest broke out in May 2024 after Paris planned to give voting rights to thousands of non-indigenous long-term residents, something Kanaks fear would leave them in a permanent minority, crushing their chances of winning independence. The riots – the most violent since the 1980s – led to the death of 14 people and billions of dollars in damage.
The last independence referendum in New Caledonia was held in 2021, and was boycotted by pro-independence groups over the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Kanak population. The referendum was the last of three since 2018, all of which rejected New Caledonian independence. Since the 2021 referendum – which pro-independence campaigners had requested be rescheduled – the political situation in the archipelago has been in deadlock.
Valls led negotiations in May between pro-independence and anti-independence groups, but they did not "reach an agreement about the institutional future of the territory," Macron said in the invitation letter.
The president, in early June, declared that he wanted a "new project" for New Caledonia.