New Caledonia pro-independence group vows more protests over election reforms
World
New Caledonia pro-independence group vows more protests over election reforms
(AFP) - In a statement following a closed-doors general assembly on 27 and 28 July, the Coordination Cell for Field Actions (CCAT) said that had they decided to "maintain the peaceful mobilisation ... until the issue of reforms of the electoral body is permanently abolished".
Concrete actions are to be carried out "on the 13th of each month, at various places" across the archipelago, to commemorate 13 May, the date of the "start of the revolt".
The CCAT also called for a meeting of the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), which includes the majority of New Caledonian independence movements. The CCAT is not a member.
According to the statement, this congress should be "open to all" and held before the end of August, while it must "recognize the CCAT as an organisation that is responsible for field actions together with the political parties that make up [the FLNKS]".
Leaders in jail
The CCAT was created at the end of 2023 by the Caledonian Union, one of the main components of the FLNKS, but it was never endorsed by the other major faction within the Front, the more moderate Kanak Liberation Party (Palika).
Some CCAT members even called for the dissolution of the FLNKS, but the general assembly did not adopt a resolution to that end.
The CCAT also put forward its leader Christian Tein as a candidate for the presidency of the FLNKS, while demanding his release.
Tein and 12 other CCAT members were arrested in June, suspected of having orchestrated a wave of violence that has rocked the French territory in the South Pacific since May, resulting in 10 deaths and over €2.2 billion in damages.
Seven of the activists are being held in pre-trial detention in prisons located in mainland France, some 17,000km away from New Caledonia. Two of them have since been released and placed under judicial supervision.
Meanwhile, the archipelago is still plagued by sporadic violence, and a curfew has been extended until 12 August, according to a statement by the High Commission of the Republic in Nouméa on Friday.
