Tensions.
The separatists of New Caledonia criticized the State on Thursday for "coming out of its neutrality" in the organization of the referendum of December 12 on independence, in which they decided not to participate, claiming however to want to continue the fight " peacefully ”.
Gathered within a strategic independentist committee of non-participation, the FLNKS and five nationalist movements accused the State of "rushing to the aid of the local right" to counter their progress during the two previous referendums in 2018 and 2020, of 43.3% to 46.7% of the vote.
"The State is obviously not able to reconcile its obligation to decolonize New Caledonia with the maintenance of its strategic interests in the Pacific", they declared in a press release.
They also deplored that Prime Minister Jean Castex affirmed, before the Senate on October 22, the "strong wish that the choice of Caledonians be that of France", citing the Nouméa agreement in which "the State recognizes the vocation of New Caledonia (…) to benefit from complete emancipation ”.
"A declaration of war"
Due to the ongoing Covid-19 epidemic in the archipelago, which they believe prevents "a fair campaign", the separatists have decided not to take part in the third and last referendum on the independence of the agreement of Noumea (1998).
They demanded its postponement to September 2022.
However, while one of the components of the FLNKS had related on Sunday the maintenance of the referendum on December 12 "to a declaration of war", Alosio Sako, member of the political bureau of the independence coalition, called for pursuing the demand "peacefully".
"On December 13, the FLNKS will come to the table of discussions but to talk about independence and nothing else", he declared, stressing that "the result of this truncated ballot will not constitute a legal basis for renew the threads of dialogue ”.