Christian Tein, a Kanak leader arrested in mainland France following violence over the reform of the electoral body in New Caledonia, was appointed president of the pro-independence alliance FLNKS on Saturday 31 August, an official said in the evening, after a congress attended by two members of the party. The Front refused to participate.
The spokesman for the Field Action Coordination Unit (CCAT), suspected of having orchestrated the riots that left eleven dead, has been held in solitary confinement in Mulhouse-Lutterbach prison (Haut-Rhin) since 23 June.
With this appointment, the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) recognises the CCAT as a mobilisation tool for the Front and not only for the Caledonian Union (the main pro-independence party, a component of the FLNKS), explained Laurie Humuni, secretary general of the FLNKS, the Democratic Rally of Oceania (RDO), another member of the FLNKS and currently heads its political office.
The appointment of the Kanak leader took place in the absence of the other two components of the FLNKS: the Kanak Liberation Party (Palika) and the Melanesian Progressive Union (UPM). Due to internal divisions and dissensions over the role of the CCAT, they announced their refusal to participate in the 43rd congress of the Front on Friday and Saturday in Koumac, in the north of the French archipelago. Both had also warned that they would not recognise the political motions resulting from the meeting.
The crisis continues in New Caledonia
New Caledonia is in the midst of a deep economic, political and social crisis since the violence that followed the reform to expand the Caledonian electoral body. Voted in Paris, the separatists accuse it of reducing the political weight of the native Kanaks. The riots that followed from May 13 left eleven dead. For the authorities, the CCAT fomented the riots, which the movement defends.
Mr. Tein, who considers himself a “political prisoner”He is accused in particular of complicity in attempted murder and of criminal association with a view to preparing a crime.
The recognition of CCAT by the FLNKS should allow for better coordination of the actions of its various branches, which until now had been acting autonomously, said Humuni.
“We must lift certain blockades to allow the population to access essential services, but that does not mean that we abandon our fight”However, he told Agence France-Presse, while the archipelago is still partially paralysed by the dams, the Front has also expressed its desire to resume dialogue, but only with the State, excluding the non-independence side.
