(AFP) — The first evacuation flights for tourists stranded in France’s Pacific territory of New Caledonia took off Saturday, the high commission in the archipelago said, as President Emmanuel Macron’s government sought to defuse the crisis.
The international airport in the capital Noumea has remained closed for more than a week and all commercial flights have been cancelled due to the unrest until at least Tuesday.
“Measures to send foreigners and French tourists home continue,” the high commission, which represents the French state, said in a statement.
The tourists departed Saturday from the Magenta airfield in Noumea aboard military aircraft headed for Australia and New Zealand, according to an AFP journalist.
They will then have to take commercial flights to mainland France.
“I came on vacation to visit my best friend… The conflict broke out and I got stuck,” in Noumea, Audrey, who did not give her last name, told AFP.
Australia and New Zealand had already begun repatriating their nationals on Tuesday.
The situation has been gradually easing for the many people trapped in the territory that has been shaken since May 13 by riots over planned voting reforms.
Seven people have been killed in the violence, the latest a man shot dead on Friday by a policeman who was attacked by protesters.
New Caledonia has been ruled from Paris since the 1800s, but many indigenous Kanaks still resent France’s power over their islands and want fuller autonomy or independence.
France is planning to give voting rights to thousands of non-indigenous long-term residents, something Kanaks say would dilute the influence of their votes.
President Emmanuel Macron flew to the archipelago on Thursday in an urgent bid to defuse the political crisis.
He pledged during his lightning trip that the planned voting reforms “will not be forced through”.
Protesters holding Kanak flags demonstrate as French President Emmanuel Macron’s motorcade drives past in Noumea, France’s Pacific territory of New Caledonia on May 23, 2024. Macron flew to France’s Pacific territory of New Caledonia on a politically risky visit aiming to defuse a crisis after nine days of riots that have killed six people and injured hundreds. Macron’s sudden decision to fly to the southwest Pacific archipelago, some 17,000 kilometres (10,500 miles) from mainland France, is a sign of the gravity with which the government views the pro-separatist violence. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by LUDOVIC MARIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
On Saturday, Macron said he would be willing to hold a referendum on the contentious changes, though he hoped that election Caledonia officials would be able to reach an agreement.
“I can move toward a referendum at any time,” he told the Parisien newspaper in an interview.
“Even if the violence ends, we will have to live together again. That’s the hardest thing,” he said.
The pro-independence FLNKS party on Saturday reiterated its demand for the withdrawal of the voting reforms after meeting with Macron.
“The FLNKS asked the president of the French Republic that a strong announcement be made from him indicating the withdrawal of the draft constitutional law,” it said in a statement, saying it was a “prerequisite to ending the crisis”.
In Paris, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said: “The situation in New Caledonia today remains extremely fragile”.
France has enforced a state of emergency, flying in hundreds of police and military reinforcements to restore order in the Pacific archipelago, around 17,000 kilometres (10,600 miles) from mainland France.