Sawt Falasteen - Macron tells New Caledonia separatists to accept pro-France votes

On a landmark visit following three referendums that have rejected secession -- the latest hotly disputed by the indigenous Kanak pro-independence population -- Macron insisted the Pacific archipelago's future was within France.

"Taking refuge in separatism actually means choosing the risk of violence today or tomorrow," the president said, in a land that was rocked by violent pro-independence protests in the 1980s.

France vowed in the Noumea Accord of 1998 to gradually give more political power to its territory.

Under the agreement, New Caledonia held three referendums in the past five years over its ties with France -- all rejecting independence.

In the first two, the vote was between 53 and 57 percent in favour of remaining part of France.

But pro-independence Kanaks boycotted the third and last referendum in December 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic -- and they rejected its 97 percent vote against independence.

"After these three referendums, I do not underestimate the disappointed hopes of those who backed a completely different project," Macron told a gathering at a square in the capital Noumea.

"But I say to them all, together we all have to have the grace to accept these results and to build the future together," Macron said.

- 'Personally hurt' -

The French leader said he was proud the votes had been carried out.

"The three referendums took place. New Caledonia is French because it has chosen to be French," he insisted.

"I will also be with you all and the president of a new project I want to build with you -- that of New Caledonia in the Republic."

The president said he wanted a revised constitutional status for New Caledonia to be in place by the beginning of 2024.

He vowed there would be "no backtracking" and "no standstill".

Macron had been due to meet earlier in the day with pro- and anti-independence camps to discuss a future for the nickel-rich South Pacific territory of nearly 300,000 people.

But the French leader said he was "personally hurt" by the absence of some pro-independence representatives at the meeting.

Negotiations on a new constitutional status for the territory have been bogged down, notably over the voting system, with a future path for self-determination also up in the air.

Macron is at the same time seeking to reassert his country's importance in the Pacific region, where China and the United States are vying for influence but France has territories such as New Caledonia and French Polynesia.

After his 48-hour stop in New Caledonia, Macron is to make the first visits by a sitting French president to Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea, where he is expected to lay out a "French alternative" for the region.

Macron has had to reassemble a Pacific strategy since Australia in 2021 tore up a deal for France to provide a fleet of diesel-powered submarines, opting instead for US- and British-built nuclear-powered vessels.

H.Jarrar--SF-PST