New Caledonia: FLNKS unity on a ridge line after the Bougival agreement

No formal disavowal of the delegation emerged from the political bureau of the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), which met for nearly four hours on Tuesday, July 22. The meeting was nevertheless particularly tense. Members of the pro-independence delegation, which, led by Emmanuel Tjibaou, co-signed the draft agreement on the "State of New Caledonia" in Bougival (Yvelines) on July 12, faced numerous questions from representatives of the various FLNKS components.

Two questions have come up more insistently: why the delegates decided to sign this agreement, and whether the president of the FLNKS, Christian Tein, gave them the green light – the latter a rhetorical point, because several members of the political bureau have had the opportunity, in recent days, to speak with the president and, according to them, he explicitly refused.

"As it stands, this draft agreement raises a very reserved opinion from the members of the BP [political bureau] . Although it specifies the establishment of a State of New Caledonia, with a nationality however subordinate to French nationality, and the possibility of regional and international recognition, it is obvious that the trajectory towards the full sovereignty of the country lacks clear perspectives. This remains hampered by obstacles (...) with the omnipresence of the State at each of the stages to be crossed" , states the Front in a press release.

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