New Caledonia

Main article: France

The population of New Caledonia for 2023 is about 300 thousand people.

Economy

2024: Economic crisis as nickel prices crash

In 2023, New Caledonia was the world's third-largest producer of electric vehicle battery metal.

In 2024, the economic crisis continues in New Caledonia. The combination of high energy prices and falling global nickel prices led to the fact that the three backbone nickel plants were on the verge of bankruptcy, which threatened almost 25% of the region's jobs.

The reason for the fall in global nickel prices is that China has helped Indonesia with inexpensive and efficient technologies for obtaining high-quality nickel from low-grade local ore.

History

2024: Riots over French attempt to grant voting rights to French who have lived in New Caledonia for more than 10 years

In May 2024, bloody riots continue for several days in New Caledonia.

The country's main airport in the capital Noumea is closed. Shops, offices and even schools were destroyed and burned.

This is the largest riot in the country since the mass protests for the independence of New Caledonia from France in the 1980s.

French authorities accuse the organization of riots of radical supporters of independence CCAT (Field Action Co-ordering Cell), which is behind all the recent protests in the country.

The official reason for the riots is Paris' decision to allow French citizens who have lived in New Caledonia for more than 10 years to vote in local elections.

The backbone of the protesters is the indigenous people of Kanaki, which makes up more than 40% of the population of 300 thousand inhabitants of the country. Kanaki fear that the new law will further infringe on their rights.

The degrees added that all three young Kanaks killed. One of them was shot dead by the police, which only intensified the riots. There was an attempt by the rebels to release prisoners from a local prison.

In 1998, France agreed to the Noumea Accord, on which only local elections can vote in New Caledonia. But since then, more than 40 thousand people have moved from France to this island state - and this is almost 15% of the population.

The introduction of the ban on public meetings did not have an effect, so the French authorities were forced to declare a state of emergency in New Caledonia for 12 days.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced the introduction of troops to restore order - a contingent of several hundred security forces was transferred from Marseille. In the country, access to the social network TikTok has been blocked, which in France has been called a tool for inciting unrest.

Although Paris they planned to stop the riots in a few hours, this has not yet been done. Rioters purposefully attack warehouses and administration, and the police and army primarily seek to protect airports and critical infrastructure.

In total, the pogromists are about five thousand people from among the local indigenous people - Kanaks. Most are operating in the capital Noumea, where rioters blocked several highways with burned cars.

By May 16, in addition to three protesters, two police officers were killed, and the number of wounded goes to hundreds on both sides. The French mission in the country announced the detention of more than 200 people, and five were arrested on suspicion of inciting and financing protests.

Pro-independence spokesman Jimmy Nauna (Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste) agrees that a political decision is needed on the future of New Caledonia, but France must abandon not only the adoption of the law, but withdraw troops that only provoke violence.

Official Paris categorically refused to do this and about three thousand fighters will remain in New Caledonia even during the Olympics. The state of emergency was to be extended until all the checkpoints of the pogromists were liquidated. By May 24, 2024, this cannot be achieved, although about a hundred barricades have already been removed.

As a result, French President Emmanuel Macron suspended the controversial electoral reform. The emergency regime was removed at the end of May, the collisions subsided, but did not stop completely. Part of the barricades in mid-June is still blocking roads, shops and government agencies have partially returned to work. According to the first estimates, the damage from the riots is already more than $200 million, about seven thousand jobs have been lost. Nickel plants are on the verge of closure.

The airport remains closed. Foreigners are exported by military aircraft of New Zealand and Australia. Air New Zealand stopped all flights to the country until the end of September at least.

Some religious Christian missions, which are traditionally active in the countries of Oceania, began to be exported from New Caledonia. This means that few people count on a quick outcome in this situation, wrote "Rybar."

Due to the closed air harbor, the country's president and independence supporter Louis Mapu cannot fly to the UN. Representatives of Fiji and Papua New Guinea began to intercede for New Caledonia at the UN, who called on the representative of the UN decolonization committee to visit the country as soon as possible, and also condemned Paris for entering the army.

Representatives of the protesters appealed to Maori from New Zealand to voice the problems of the Kanaks at the UN, saying that they are one people. It should be noted that against the background of the economic crisis, nationalist decolonizing sentiments are also growing among Māori.

International support for the Kanaks is gradually developing. At the Pacific Culture Festival in Hawaii, participants held a mass rally in support of the rebellious Kanaks.

In Paris, the left held a large rally in support of the indigenous people of New Caledonia.

Azerbaijan, which took up the narratives about the decolonization of France at the beginning of the riots, is not complacent either. On June 13, Baku will host a large conference with representatives from Africa and the same New Caledonia, at which they will discuss French policy. The organizer is The Baku Initiative Group.

The signal sounded for Paris and from Human Rights Watch. According to the organization, since the beginning of the riots, 23 cases of rape by the French security forces have been recorded. Half of the victims are under the age of 16. The report states that local residents are detained without explanation. Security forces enter their homes for searches in the form of humanitarian missions.

Information about the cruelty of the French army in the suppression of protests is actively disseminated on the Internet. Additionally, the news came about the ninth victim of the clashes. This is a kanak who was shot in the stomach in an attack on police two weeks ago. It also became known that the two victims are relatives of the legendary football player Christian Karambyo.

In total, in mid-June, almost 1,200 people were arrested, 300 security officials were injured.

At the end of June, French forces arrested 11 leaders of the pogroms. This is mainly the leadership of the CCAT group, which the French authorities accuse of directly organizing riots. This happened on the eve of a press conference prepared by CCAT - and some of them were taken by special board to France, where they should be brought to trial. Those arrested were specially taken to various prisons in France and they do not have access to their lawyers.

Among them is CCAT leader Christian Thein. He has already been compared to the leader of the Haitian revolution, Toussaint-Louverture, who went to negotiate with the metropolis, but was deceived, arrested and taken to France, where he died in custody. According to black irony, Thane is now in a prison near the castle where Toussaint-Louverture was held.

This event instantly caused a new wave of riots. Local municipalities, police departments caught fire, new barricades appeared, and arms stores were looted. If earlier the pogroms were mainly in the capital, now they cover the province. Officially, the country has a curfew from 20:00 to 6 in the morning.

They also write that according to rumors, some of the arrested Kanaks began to be placed in prisons. Australia

At the same time, representatives of the Kanaks continue to receive international support:

• In Paris, the Solidarity with the Kanaks group held a rally at the French Ministry of Justice.

• The leader of the "Unconquered France" Jean-Luc Melenchon called on Macron to abandon reform in New Caledonia and blamed him for the pogroms in the country.

• The French ambassador to Vanuatu had to issue a statement that Paris was not conducting a special military operation in New Caledonia after mass protests in Vanuatu and demands from local elders from France to immediately withdraw troops.

• The countries of Oceania called on Paris to stop the cruelty, the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) proposed to become a platform for negotiations.

Insurers began to calculate the damage - this is at least $1 billion. Hundreds of businesses, office buildings and shops have been looted and burned.

In order to somehow correct the economic situation in New Caledonia, Paris finally allowed the export of local nickel ore to China. Previously, it was supposed to be processed, but the factories, due to the collapse of world prices, began to suffer colossal losses, which brought serious problems to the economy of New Caledonia.