By Pita Ligaiula in Honiara, Solomon Islands
The pro-independence Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS) has written to Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Chair and Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, warning that the Bougival Project poses “serious dangers” to New Caledonia’s decolonisation process.
“As President of the Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS), I wish to draw your attention to the serious dangers posed by the so-called Bougival Project, currently presented as the way forward after the Nouméa Accord,” FLNKS President Christian Tein wrote in a letter, obtained by PACNEWS dated 07 September.
He said the project undermines the commitments made in the 1988 Matignon-Oudinot Accords and the 1998 Nouméa Accord, which had set a pathway for progressive decolonisation under United Nations and Pacific Islands Forum supervision.
“The Bougival text departs from this horizon and, in our view, represents a setback with grave consequences. This project neither guarantees sovereignty nor ensures the genuine emancipation of the Kanak people. It is limited to cosmetic advances in a logic of reinforced integration,” Tein said.
He argued the plan dilutes the principle of New Caledonian nationality, entrenches French control over powers and the economy, and fails to guarantee irreversibility of past gains.
“Such an arrangement locks New Caledonia into an extended status quo, without any clear perspective of decolonisation.
The right to self-determination is formally acknowledged, yet without any commitment to a timeframe or a mechanism leading to independence. This ambiguity serves only to prolong French tutelage,” Tein said.
Tein said the agreement also denies recognition of past injustices, creating barriers to reconciliation.
“These concerns echo the findings of the Troika Mission of the Pacific Islands Forum (October 2024), which recalled that the 2021 referendum had not been conducted in the spirit of the Nouméa Accord, that its legitimacy was undermined by the massive non-participation of Kanaks, and that the root causes of tension remained unresolved,” he said.
The FLNKS has called on the MSG and the Pacific Islands Forum to support international mediation and prevent “any neutralisation of the decolonisation process.”
“The history of our struggle has shown us that, without regional solidarity, the voice of the Kanak people risks being silenced. With your support, we will continue to demand a future based on dignity, justice, and sovereignty,” Tein wrote.
Meanwhile, the French government was thrown into fresh turmoil Monday as lawmakers fired the prime minister, the latest leader tossed out by a deeply divided legislature.
Parliamentarians on the left and right ousted François Bayrou with a whopping 364-194 vote against him in a motion of no confidence. They are unhappy about his proposal to make drastic cuts of around 44 billion euros (US$51 billion) to next year’s budget, an unpopular attempt to resolve France’s economic woes.
A statement from the Élysée Palace said that French President Emmanuel Macron will appoint a new prime minister “in the coming days.
