For his first trip, the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, François-Noël Buffet, chose New Caledonia. Five months after the outbreak of violence that plunged the French archipelago in the South Pacific into a deep crisis, Buffet will visit the place from October 16 to 18, 2024.
this visit “demonstrates, in the difficult context that the territory is experiencing, the support and total commitment of the government towards all Caledonians”explains the Overseas Ministry in a press release published on Monday, October 7.
A project to reform the electoral body in the provincial elections, accused by the separatists of marginalizing the indigenous Kanak population, triggered the worst riots in forty years in New Caledonia on May 13, causing thirteen deaths, including two gendarmes, and damage considerable economic and social costs.
the 1Ahem In October, in his general policy statement to the Assembly, Prime Minister Michel Barnier announced the abandonment of this constitutional reform and the postponement of the provincial elections, two measures that reflect the desire to find a way of appeasement. During your visit, François-Noël Buffet will come “Explains the Prime Minister’s announcement to postpone the provincial elections until 2025”according to the ministry.
“Provide rapid and pragmatic responses to the crisis”
“I am happy to come to meet our fellow citizens of New Caledonia and reaffirm the government’s desire to provide quick and pragmatic responses to the crisis facing this territory” of about 270,000 inhabitants, declares the minister cited in the press release. “Continuing dialogue and promoting reconstruction are the challenges of my visit”continue.
In an interview with Sunday’s TribuneMichel Barnier told him that he would go to New Caledonia “when the time comes”.
“We can rebuild a dialogue between all communities”he added, recalling that the president of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, and her Senate counterpart, Gérard Larcher, would carry out a good offices mission in the archipelago.
