Macron arrives in New Caledonia for high-stakes talks

Reuters:  Police reinforcements in New Caledonia will stay as long as needed, President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday after viewing areas devastated by deadly riots triggered by a contested electoral reform in the French-ruled Pacific island.

Macron's hastily arranged visit comes after six people were killed in riots that have left a trail of looted shops, torched cars and businesses since they began more than a week ago.

"In the coming hours and days, massive new operations will be scheduled where necessary, and republican order in its entirety will be re-established because there is no other choice," Macron said during a meeting with political and business leaders in the territory's capital Noumea.

Roads across the island remained blocked by protester barricades, and residents shared advice on social media on safe routes to find food, petrol and medicine.

Macron earlier flew by helicopter over areas wrecked by arson, as bulldozers worked to clear away rubble. Mayors from these worst-hit suburbs joined Macron's meeting at France's High Commission, along with pro-French and pro-independence leaders.

Describing the riots as "an unprecedented insurrection whose degree of violence no one would have anticipated", Macron said additional security totalling 3,000 personnel would remain, even during this summer's Paris Olympics if required.

Beyond security, the key question is what announcement Macron could make regarding the contentious electoral reform.

It would allow thousands more French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years to vote, which Paris says is needed to improve democracy on the island, where almost a quarter of the population identifies as European, mainly French.

Leaders of the indigenous Kanaks who form the largest community - 40% - want the reform rescinded over fears it will dilute the Kanak vote and make it harder for any future referendum on independence to pass.

Other local leaders want the reform to be suspended to give time for a broader dialogue over the future of the island.

Electoral rolls were frozen by the 1998 Noumea Accord that ended a decade of violence by outlining a path to gradual autonomy. But the pact's expiry in 2021, and a Kanak boycott of an independence referendum held during the COVID-19 pandemic, led to a political impasse.