French President Emmanuel Macron is making a surprise trip to New Caledonia, the French Pacific territory that has been gripped by days of deadly unrest and where indigenous people have long sought independence.
French President Emmanuel Macron is making a surprise trip to New Caledonia, the French Pacific territory that has been gripped by days of deadly unrest and where indigenous people have long sought independence.
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“He will go there tonight,” government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot said after a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday where the president said he’d decided to make the more than 33,000-kilometer (20,000-mile) round trip himself to the archipelago east of Australia.
Six people have been killed, including two gendarmes, and hundreds of others injured in New Caledonia during armed clashes, looting and arson, raising new questions about Macron’s handling of France’s colonial legacy.
Paris last Wednesday declared a 12-day minimum state of emergency on the island and rushed in 1,000 reinforcements to bolster security forces that lost control of parts of the capital, Nouméa.
The visit will give Macron and his ministers a first-hand look at some of the destruction that turned parts of Nouméa into no-go zones, with buildings torched, shops pillaged and barricades erected both by pro-independence supporters, some armed, and people banding together to protect livelihoods and homes.
Macron’s efforts to address that have largely focused on Africa, where France had colonies and where local frustration in some countries has led to recent calls for French forces to get out.
A priority for French authorities in New Caledonia since the weekend has been clearing the highway to Nouméa’s international airport of barricades and the burned hulks of vehicles, raising the prospect for stranded tourists of being able to leave.
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