The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, carried out a week of meeting a week of meetings with the separatists and the loyalists, in an attempt to leave the blocking created at the end of 2021 by the boycott of the last referendum.
by Nathalie Guibert
Protected from the burning sun by his large leather hat, the chief of the Pouta tribe, Jérémy Poadja, 50, pronounces the reception words, in the Kanak custom. Wednesday, November 30, in Koné, in front of the representatives of the northern province led by the separatists, we have just posed on the traditional mat the Calais lace brought by Gérald Darmanin. It has been two days since the Minister of the Interior opened a marathon of political meetings in New Caledonia. At his side, the High Commissioner, Patrice Faure, evokes “the blood of the first peoples, that of the victims of history, and those who, alongside us, build Caledonia”. The French state has just introduced itself that morning with “respect and humility” according to customary expression.
The Minister took a whole week, from November 28 to December 4, to try to get out of the crisis opened by the third and last referendum on independence of December 12, 2021, boycotted by the Kanak. The ballot again cut the Pacific archipelago in two, after those of 2018 and 2020, justly favorable to the maintenance of Caledonia in France. “I came to listen to you,” repeats the minister to all his interlocutors. In the world, it specifies: “The referendum yes/no is a binary institutional mode which works in Europe but poses more difficulties in a customary country attached to consensus.”
New Caledonia seems to be blocked since the Noumea agreement in 1998, which organized large transfers of skills to its “full sovereignty”. The State, the Kanak National Liberation Front and Socialist (FLNKS) and non-independence has no choice but to take up the thread of dialogue. To write the future of the country, it is necessary to “find a path”, according to the expression devoted here. Arrived with his Minister Delegate to the Overseas, Jean-François Carenco, who remained two days, Mr. Darmanin immediately recalled the imperative to “maintain civil peace”.
Large white beard, red shirt, in Koné Wednesday, November 30, imposing, the president of the province, Paul Neaoutyine. At the age of 71, there remains an essential man, who skillfully plays his relations with the State. In a FLNKS in the grip of succession struggles, its party, the Palika, favorable to “sovereignty-partner” with France, will play a key role in the coming months. Mr. Darmanin had considered dinner with him on Wednesday, it did not take place. But all the appointments scheduled during the week have been held, including secrets, without major clashes. Publicly, the minister’s interlocutors praised his posture, open and, above all, discreet.
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