Youth protest peacefully in April 2024. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Lydia Lewis
New Zealand should join others in calling New Caledonia's third independence referendum invalid, one of the founders of the Kanaky Aotearoa Solidarity Network says.
It follows the 10th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM10) in Tokyo last week, where New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters called for the Pacific Islands Forum to facilitate mediation in the French territory.
In December 2021, the Kanak population boycotted the referendum to mourn their dead during the Covid-19 pandemic, after their calls for the referendum to be delayed was ignored.
As a result, Peters said the referendum saw voter turnout collapse and almost 97 percent of voters to cast a ballot in voted 'No' to independence.
"Delegitimising the result, in the eyes of pro-independence forces and some neutral observers at least, was the low turnout of only 44 percent."
Kanaky Aotearoa Solidarity group's David Small said Peters should have aligned with the Melanesian Spearhead Group which has called for a UN mission to New Caledonia.
"He said that the third referendum was delegitimised in the eyes of some, and did not include New Zealand in that," Small said.
"It would have been better if he had because that third referendum was indefensible."
The group said Peters had mentioned the need for dialogue but failed to provide a clear pathway or goal.
"The Kanaky Aotearoa Solidarity Group is deeply disappointed by Peters' insufficient support for the Kanak people's struggle.
"His statement at PALM10 represents a missed opportunity for New Zealand to assert its commitment to justice and self-determination for all Pacific peoples."
Winston Peters Photo: RNZ NICK MONRO
'Fed by disinformation', Roger-Lacan says
However, the top French diplomat in the Pacific, Véronique Roger-Lacan, said she has reassured Pacific Islands Forum Leaders (PIF) that attended PALM10 that France's actions during the third and final independence referendum were fair.
Roger-Lacan spoke to RNZ Pacific from Tokyo following talks with the leaders of Papua New Guinea and Tonga.
She said there is "so much disinformation" surrounding issues in New Caledonia and that Pacific leaders had only heard one side of the story.
"For example, Mark Brown sent a letter to President [Louis] Mapou but he did not try and contact France, kind of ignoring that New Caledonia until further notice is France," she said.
"We tried to call them, but Mark Brown would not be there to pick up the phone.
"But luckily, the Prime Minister of Tonga, the incoming chair of the PIF and everyone else was there, so they everyone was very happy to hear the information that we were providing.
"We are going to provide full information in writing because it seems that everybody ignores...the substance of the matter, and everybody is totally fed by disinformation and propaganda" surrounding issues in New Caledonia.
France's top diplomat in the Pacific, Véronique Roger-Lacan, says there is a lot of "disinformation and propaganda". Photo: AP / Nicolas Job
Delegation to New Caledonia 'decision has been made'
According to PIF's outgoing chair and Cook Islands Prime Minister, Mark Brown, work is already in progress to send a high-level Pacific delegation investigate the ongoing political crisis, which has resulted in 10 deaths and the economic costs totalling €2.2 billion.
"We will now go through the process of how we will put this into practice. Of course, it will require the support of the Government of France for the mission to proceed," Brown said at a news conference at the PALM10 meeting in Tokyo.
A spokesperson for the New Caledonia President's office, Charles Wea, has told RNZ Pacific the high-level group is expected to be made up of the leaders of Fiji, Cook Islands, Tonga and Solomon Islands.
"The decision that has been made by the leaders during the meeting in Japan to send a mission to New Caledonia before the annual meeting over the of PIF around the second or third week of August," he said.
"The objectives of the mission will be to come and listen and discuss with all parties in New Caledonia in order to [prepare] a report [for]the leaders meeting in Tonga."
