(Reuters) – Pacific Islands leaders postponed a visit to French territory New Caledonia to assess civil unrest between indigenous Kanaks and French loyalists, the regional bloc’s chairman and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown said on Wednesday.
A delegation of three leaders, including Brown and Fiji’s prime minister, had hoped to travel to New Caledonia and report back to a Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting next week.
In a statement, Brown said the visit by the Pacific Islands Forum “Troika” had been requested by New Caledonia President Louis Mapou and later approved by French President Emmanuel Macron.
“However, the New Caledonia Government has identified a number of issues regarding due process and protocol that will need to be addressed prior to a Troika visit,” he said.
The Pacific Islands Forum needed to “resolve the concerns of our fellow Forum member”, the statement said.
Mapou’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
On Monday, Radio New Zealand quoted New Caledonia Congress president Roch Wamytan as saying France was trying to control the visit, which the local government believed it should host, because it was a member of the forum.
France’s High Commissioner for the Pacific, Veronique Roger-Lacan, wrote on social media: “France is ready anytime to welcome such a mission”.
France sent hundreds of police to the French territory after voting reforms sparked riots and widespread disruptions in May.
Kanaks fear reforms will dilute their vote and make it harder for any future referendum on independence to pass, while Paris says the measure is needed to improve democracy by allowing more residents from France to vote.
Protest leader Christian Tein was arrested and deported to France in June.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Wednesday criticised the French government over the electoral reforms, which have since been suspended, and “excessive use of force” in response to Kanak demonstrations.
The Kanak people had inhabited New Caledonia for thousands of years, and the latest moves by Paris had undermined the decolonisation process, it added.
France’s High Commission in New Caledonia did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the UN experts’ statement.
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
