Page 38 - November 2021 IB FINAL

New Caledonia New Caledonia

Enjoy “the charm of the natives, the palms, the sun and sea” in New Caledonia (Plantu of Le Monde)

“AKIN TO A DECLARATION OF WAR”

FRANCE BOOSTS POLICE AND MILITARY BEFORE NEW
CALEDONIA VOTE

By Nic Maclellan Caledonia, which highlight its hardening view of the security
situation.
As New Caledonia moves towards a referendum on self-de- On 19 May, the French Council of Ministers announced
termination on 12 December, France is deploying new police Patrice Faure’s appointment as the new French High Commis-
and military forces to the French Pacific dependency. In a sioner in Noumea. In contrast to many diplomatic predeces-
show of strength, nearly 2,500 extra security forces – backed sors, Faure has a background in the armed forces, intelligence
by armoured cars, helicopters and other equipment – will services and policing.
spread out across New Caledonia in the next few weeks. After serving as an instructor at France’s elite Saint Cyr
All independence parties had called for the referendum to military academy, he was assigned to a command detachment
be postponed until 2022, because of disruption to campaign- of the 14th parachute regiment. In 2002, he was seconded to
ing during a surge of COVID-19 cases since early September. France’s overseas intelligence agency, the Direction générale
However on 12 November, France’s High Commissioner Patrice de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE), before transferring in 2004
Faure announced that the vote would proceed as scheduled: to work as deputy head of the military division of the French
“New Caledonians who wish to go to the polls on 12 Decem- Overseas Ministry. After a series of postings in the Overseas
ber will be able to do so in peace and calm.” Ministry and Interior Ministry, he served in 2006-7 as Director
French officials stress that these new security forces are of Police at the Paris police prefecture.
simply deployed to support the referendum and maintain On 1 August, Brigadier General Valery Putz took up the post
order, but this build-up will be perceived differently by sup- of commander of the Forces armées en Nouvelle-Calédonie
porters of independence. Many indigenous Kanak remain wary (FANC) – the French armed forces based in New Caledonia.
of the police and military, recalling state violence in the mid- Brigadier General Putz has served as an officer with the
1980s as well as recent clashes with the “forces of order.” French Foreign Legion, based in Guyane and Djibouti and
The Parti de Libération Kanak (Palika) condemned the deployed across Africa, Afghanistan and former Yugoslavia. He
decision to continue with the referendum in December as a later held a number of staff posts in the military and defence
“political provocation” and says the decision “undermines any think tanks. Just before taking up his command in Noumea,
possibility of dialogue on the future of the country, akin to a Putz worked at the Elysée presidential palace as a military
declaration of war against the Kanak people and the progres- adviser and liaison officer in the private staff of French Presi-
sive citizens of the country.” dent Emmanuel Macron.
Another controversial appointment came in July, when Colo-
New staff nel Éric Steiger was named as the new head of the gendar-
Over the last six months, the French government has made merie in New Caledonia. However Steiger had been convicted
a series of political and administrative appointments to New last May of family violence offences and withdrew from the

38 Islands Business, November 2021