In Nouméa, the abroad minister proposes a brand new technique | EUROtoday

“There is a need to rethink our ways of doing things” And “a confidence to rebuild” with abroad territories, says their new minister, François-Noël Buffet. This first applies in a New Caledonia on its knees for the reason that independence rebellion of May 13. For his first four-day go to, which started on Wednesday October 16, Mr. Buffet hopes to persuade individuals that he’s utilizing a brand new technique.

“The desire is to understand each other better to avoid the mistakes of the recent past. The values ​​of the Republic and Kanak values ​​are complementary”repeated the top of customs on the High Commission, Richard Poindo, carrying the phrase of the State throughout the conventional hey ceremonies with native establishments. By providing every time a Lyon silk, the minister then insisted on the image “of a very fragile thread alone and very strong when woven”. Enough to contradict a loyalist camp which had the ear of the earlier authorities and by which Sonia Backès judges “feudal Kanak society” and his “antagonisms” with Western tradition irreconcilable ».

In April 2023, François-Noël Buffet, then senator (Les Républicains, Rhône), was co-signatory of a report on Caledonian establishments, which warned of the dangers of an inflammable reform: that of the enlargement of the native electoral physique, carried out outdoors of a broader political settlement on the way forward for the territory and throughout the tight timetable chosen by the federal government of the day. “If this report has been considered a reference, it is because it is the result of real dialogue and listening work”assures in the present day the minister World.

“Do not confuse weakness with patience”

On the political situation, specifies the previous senator, “the electorate is not the focus of the moment. We must first respond to the absolute urgency of the economic and social collapse of New Caledonia”. And to make clear his ideas: “We are giving ourselves time to build something solid. You miss a step and everything falls, that’s what we just saw” with the violent explosion in May. “We must not confuse weakness with patience. »

The message was carried to the customary Senate, which claims a place in the reconstruction of New Caledonian society. The president of the institution, Mahé Gowe, criticized the past method on Wednesday, which according to him resulted in a “inability of the public authorities to initiate mediation so as to leave the initiative only to the justice system and the police”. Adding: “The institutional practice which was content to maintain a discriminating dualism between Western society and Kanak society has structured a profound social malaise. » We will have to agree “on the postulates and on the method”agreed the customary chief, it being understood for him that it’s “necessary to take into account the fact that 90% of the indigenous population and its youth want independence”.

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