New Caledonia rejects independence from France in referendum boycotted by separatist camp

Residents of the Pacific Territory of New Caledonia overwhelmingly voted Sunday to remain part of France in a third referendum that was boycotted by pro-independence groups, reports say.

Police reinforcements have been dispatched to the territory known as “the pebble”, which is of strategic importance to France and is part of a broader struggle for influence in the Pacific between western countries and China.

The local television channel NC la 1ere reported that, with 90.23 percent of the votes counted, 96.32 percent of the voters voted “No” to independence, a result that will generate fears of malaise and questions about the legitimacy of the process.

The archipelago of some 185,000 voters, 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) east of Australia, received three independence referenda under a 1988 agreement aimed at easing tensions on the islands.

Turnout on Sunday was just 41.60 percent at 5 p.m. local time (0600 GMT).

Having rejected a breakout from France in 2018 and then again last year, the inhabitants were asked for the last time: “Do you want New Caledonia to access full sovereignty and become independent?”

Pro-independence activists boycotted the vote, saying they wanted it postponed until September because “a fair campaign” was impossible with a high number of coronavirus infections.

The result could exacerbate ethnic tensions, as the poorer Kanak indigenous community generally favors independence over the richer white community.

The main indigenous independence movement, the FLNKS, had called the government’s insistence to go ahead with the referendum as “a declaration of war.”

“This referendum doesn’t make much sense because half the population has decided not to vote,” Cathy, a bookseller who gave only her first name, told AFP at a voting booth in the capital Noumea.

“I left the civic mentality, what interests me is the society that we are going to build later,” he told AFP.

Participation was particularly low in the areas with the Kanaca majority, as witnessed by AFP reporters.

Fears of Chinese influence

At stake in the vote was one of France’s largest overseas territories, home to about 10 percent of the world’s reserves of nickel, which is used to make stainless steel, batteries and mobile phones.

The territory is also a key part of France’s claim to be a Pacific power, with New Caledonia granting France rights to the surrounding ocean, as well as a military ladder outpost.

Experts suspect that an independent New Caledonia would draw closer to Beijing, which has built close economic ties and political influence on other Pacific islands.

“If the French safeguard disappears, all the elements will be ready for China to permanently establish itself in New Caledonia,” said French international relations analyst Bastien Vandendyck.

Other nations in the region, including Fiji, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, had already become “Chinese satellites,” Vandendyck told AFP.

“All China needs now to complete its pearl necklace at Australia’s doorstep is New Caledonia,” he said.

China is already the largest single customer for New Caledonia’s metal exports.

New vote on the future ‘project’

French President Emmanuel Macron has avoided taking sides in the referendum debate, saying on Thursday that his role was to ensure that the vote “takes place in the right way and under the right conditions.”

He is expected to make a statement on Sunday at 1200 GMT and is desperate to prevent further unrest abroad following violent protests on the French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique last month.

About 2,000 police and troops were deployed for Sunday’s vote, which appeared to have passed largely without incident except for an attempted roadblock on a peripheral island.

France has 13 overseas territories, home to 2.7 million people, who are generally poorer and have higher unemployment than the mainland, leading to long-standing allegations of negligence.

Some, like French Polynesia, have been granted a large degree of autonomy and attention will now turn to the future status of New Caledonia, whose regional council could be given more powers.

Another referendum is expected in June 2023 which will decide on the “project” that the people of New Caledonia want to carry out.

The independence movement has threatened not to recognize Sunday’s result and has promised to appeal to the United Nations to cancel it.

New Caledonia was largely spared during the first phase of the pandemic, but has suffered close to 300 deaths from Covid-19 since the Delta variant arrived.

Some observers fear that the tensions could provoke a return of the kind of violence that was last seen in the 1980s when clashes broke out between independence Kanaks and white French opponents of independence.

(AFP)