Still a lot of work to do following New Cal's 'historic' deal
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RNZ News
20 hours ago
- RNZ News
Henry Puna calls New Zealand's involvement in Cook Islands politics 'improper'
Former Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna Photo: Pacific Islands Forum Former Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna says he thinks it is "improper" for New Zealand to involve itself in the "domestic affairs" of the island nation and issues between the two countries should be resolved behind closed doors. Puna has become the new president of the Cook Islands Party, the same party that Prime Minister Mark Brown leads. When asked whether he became president of the party because of the current state of the relationship between the Cook Islands and New Zealand governments, Puna said his interest was domestic, "to see the Cook Islands Party become stronger and remain united". Mark Brown, left, and Henry Puna. Photo: Pacific Islands Forum Foreign Minister Winston Peters has challenged Brown to hold an independence referendum' following agreements the Cook Islands signed with China in February that Wellington feels it was not consulted on. Puna said Peters' comments are in the minds of the Cook Islands people. "Given the special nature of our relationship with New Zealand, it must be underpinned by respect. "I think it is a bit improper for New Zealand to be involving themselves into our domestic affairs. I don't think that is respectful of our relationship" Puna said he wants the Cook Islands and New Zealand to talk about "these slight complications" in private. He said it "was a bit tough" that New Zealand paused $18.2m in development funding last month while meetings between foreign officials were still taking place but said it was New Zealand's call. Puna said the Cook Islands Comprehensive Strategic Partnership was very similar to a partnership agreement New Zealand signed with China in 2014. "So really, there is nothing unusual about it, but you will also notice that security is not an issue in that agreement, for obvious reasons." The diplomatic row between the Cook Islands and New Zealand has come to a head. Photo: RNZ Pacific When asked why it was obvious, Puna said the Cook Islands was mindful of New Zealand's and its other partners security concerns. But he added that security in the traditional sense is not a big issue for Pacific leaders. "For us, security really is about being safe from the effects of climate change, and not with the traditional army, armed activities, that New Zealand and the others are concerned about." Puna said he "would have quite happily signed [the agreements with China]" if he was in Brown's place and he signed a similar agreement, while also making a state visit in 2013. He said there are opportunities with China. One is the Cook Islands and China are halving the cost of a $6m interisland vessel. "Our government raised that with New Zealand years ago, and it was flatly rejected that, you know, they wouldn't help," Puna said. The New Zealand government has said the Cook Islands can not have United Nations membership while it remains in free association. It was something Puna wanted while he was prime minister and for a period it was floated by Brown. "I had a conversation with the legal office of the United Nations, who told me quite openly that, in their view, we were qualified to be admitted as a member of the UN," Puna said. "But given our special relationship with New Zealand, I decided to raise the issue with Prime Minister John Key and the officials in Wellington at the time, their response was very clear. They didn't agree with it, so we didn't push it." The Cook Islands is currently celebrating 60 years of self-governance in free association with New Zealand. Puna said he was proud of where the country has come. He said a major achievement over the past 60-years was building the international airport. It unlocked tourism in the country, which underpins the economy. For the future, Puna wants the economy to be the focus. "Everything else will fall into place and I'm confident that we have the makings of, you know, a growing and a sound economy…these nights watching our young ones on the stage at the auditorium, performing with pride. I have a lot of confidence in our future, in the hands of our young people."
Scoop
20 hours ago
- Scoop
New Caledonia's Oldest Pro-Independence Party Denounces 'Bougival' Deal
, Correspondent French Pacific Desk New Caledonia's oldest pro-independence party, the Union Calédonienne (UC), on Thursday officially rejected a political agreement signed in Paris last month. The text, bearing the signatures of all of New Caledonia's political parties represented at the local Congress, a total of 18 leaders, both pro-France and pro-independence, is described as a "project" for an agreement that would shape New Caledonia's political future. Since it was signed in the city of Bougival (West of Paris) on 12 July, after ten days of intense negotiations, it has been dubbed a "bet on trust" and has been described by French Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls as a commitment from all signing parties to report to their respective bases and explain its contents. The Bougival document involves a series of measures and recognition by France of New Caledonia as a "State" which could become empowered with its own international relations and foreign affairs, provided they do not contradict France's key interests. It also envisages a double citizenship - French and New Caledonian - provided future New Caledonian citizens are French nationals in the first place. It also describes a future devotion of stronger powers for each of the three provinces (North, South and Loyalty Islands), especially in terms of tax collection. Since it was published, the document, bearing a commitment to defend the text "as is", was hailed as "innovative" and "historic". New Caledonia's leaders have started to hold regular meetings - sometimes daily - and sessions with their respective supporters and militants, mostly to explain the contents of what they have signed. The meetings were held by most pro-France parties and within the pro-independence camp, the two main moderate parties, UPM (Union Progressiste en Mélanésie) and PALIKA (Kanak Liberation Party). Over the past two weeks, all of these parties have strived to defend the agreement, which is sometimes described as a Memorandum of Agreement or a roadmap for future changes in New Caledonia. Most of the leaders who have inked the text have also held lengthy interviews, in explanation mode, with local media. Parties who have unreservedly pledged their support to and have signed the Bougival document are: on the pro-France side, Les Loyalistes, Rassemblement-LR, Wallisian-based Eveil océanien and Calédonie ensemble and on the pro-independence side, UNI-FLNKS (which comprises UPM and PALIKA). But one of the main components of the pro-independence movement, the FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front) and its main pillar, the Union Calédonienne, have held a series of meetings at different levels, indicating their resentment of their negotiators signing the contested document. UC held its executive committee on 21 July, its steering committee on 26 July, and FLNKS convened its political bureau on 23 July. A 'lure of sovereignty' All of these meetings concluded in an increasingly clear rejection of the Bougival document. Speaking at a news conference on Thursday in Nouméa, UC leaders made it clear that they "formally reject" the agreement because, in their view, it is a "lure of sovereignty" and does not guarantee neither real sovereignty nor political balance. FLNKS chief negotiator Emmanuel Tjibaou, who is also UC's chair, told local reporters he understood his signature on the document meant a commitment to return to New Caledonia, explain the text and obtain the approval of the political base. "I didn't have a mandate to sign a political agreement, my mandate was to register the talks and bring them back to our people so that a decision can be didn't mean an acceptance on our part", he said, mentioning a "temporary" document subject to further discussions. Tjibaou said some amendments his delegation had put on the table in Bougival "went missing" in the final text. 'Bougival, it's over' "As far as we're concerned, Bougival, it's over", UC vice-president Mickaël Forrest said. He said the time was now to move onto a "post-Bougival phase". Meanwhile, the FLNKS also consulted its own "constitutionalists" to obtain legal advice and interpretation on the document. In a release associated with Thursday's media conference, UC states that the Bougival text cannot be regarded as a balance between two visions, but rather a way of "maintaining New Caledonia French". The text, UC said, has led the political dialogue into a "new impasse" and it leaves several questions unanswered. "With the denomination of a 'State', a fundamental law (a de facto Constitution), the capacity to self-organise, an international recognition, this document is perceived as a project for an agreement to integrate (New Caledonia) into France under the guise of a decolonisation". "But the FLNKS has never accepted a status of autonomy within France, but an external decolonisation by means of accession to full sovereignty (which) grants us the right to choose our inter-dependencies", the release states. The pro-independence party also criticises plans to enlarge the list of persons entitled to vote at New Caledonia's local elections, the very issue that triggered deadly and destructive riots in May 2024. It is also critical of a proposed mechanism that would require a vote at the Congress with a minimum majority of 64 percent (two thirds) before any future powers can be requested for transfer from France to New Caledonia. Assuming that current population trends and a fresh system of representation at the Congress will allow more representatives from the Southern province (about three quarters of New Caledonia's population), UC said "in other words, it would be the non-independence (camp) who will have the power to authorise us -or not- to ask for our sovereignty". They party confirmed that it had "formally rejected the Bougival project of agreement as it stands" following a decision made by its steering committee on 26 July "Since the fundamentals of our struggle and the principles of decolonisation are not there". Negotiators no longer mandated The decision also means that every member of its negotiating team who signed the document on 12 July is now de facto demoted and no longer mandated by the party, until a new negotiating team is appointed, if required. "Union Calédonienne remains mobilised to arrive at a political agreement that takes into account the achievement of a trajectory towards full sovereignty". On Tuesday, FLNKS president Christian Téin, as an invited guest of Corsica's "Nazione" pro-independence movement, told French media he declared himself "individually against" the Bougival document, adding this was "far from being akin to full sovereignty". Téin said that during the days that lead to the signing of the document in Bougival "the pressure" exerted on negotiators was "terrible". He said the result was that due to "excessive force" applied by "France's representatives", the final text's content "looks like it is the French State and right-wing people who will decide the (indigenous) Kanak people's future". Facing crime-related charges, Téin is awaiting his trial, but was released from jail, under the condition that he does not return to New Caledonia. The leader of a CCAT (field action coordinating cell) created by Union Calédonienne late 2023 to protest against a proposed French Constitutional amendment to alter voters' rules of eligibility at local elections, was jailed for one year in mainland France, but was elected President of FLNKS in absentia late August 2024. CCAT, meanwhile, was admitted as one of the new components of FLNKS. In a de facto split, the two main moderate pillars of FLNKS, UPM and PALIKA, at the same time, distanced themselves from the pro-independence UC-dominated platform, materialising a rift within the pro-independence umbrella. The FLNKS is scheduled to hold an extraordinary meeting on 9 August 2025 (it was initially scheduled to be held on 2 August), to "highlight the prospects of the pursuit of dialogue through a repositioning of the pro-independence movement's political orientations". Valls: 'I'm not giving up' Reacting to the latest UC statements, Valls told French media he called UC "on a great sense of responsibility". "If tomorrow there was to be no agreement, it would mean the future, hope, would be put into question. Investment, including for the nickel mining industry, would no longer be possible." "I'm not giving up. Union Calédonienne has chosen to reject, as it stands, the Bougival accord project. I take note of this, but I profoundly regret this position." "An institutional void would be a disaster for [New Caledonia]. It would be a prolonged uncertainty, the risk of further instability, the return of violence," he said. "But my door is not closed and I remain available for dialogue at all times. Impasse is not an option." Valls said the Bougival document was "'neither someone's victory on another one, nor an imposed text: it was build day after day, with partners around the table, following months of long discussions." In a recent letter specifically sent to Union Calédonienne, the French former Prime Minister suggested the creation of an editorial committee to start drafting future-shaping documents for New Caledonia, such as its "fundamental law", akin to a Constitution for New Caledonia. Valls also stressed France's financial assistance to New Caledonia, which last year totalled around €3 billion because of the costs associated to the May 2024 riots. The riots caused 14 dead, hundreds of injured and an estimated financial cost of more than €2 billion in material damage.
RNZ News
21 hours ago
- RNZ News
Roch Wamytan: Paris political agreement for New Caledonia 'not enough' for Kanaks
The "draft" deal signed in Paris last month failed to secure the pro-independence mandate. Photo: AFP / RNZ Pacific A former New Caledonia Congress president says there are "not enough" benefits for Kanaks in a new "draft" agreement he signed alongside pro and anti-independence stakeholders in France last month. Wamytan said that, after 10 days of deadlock discussions in Paris, he failed to secure the pro-independence mandate. He told RNZ Pacific that he refused to sign a "final agreement". Instead, he said, he opted for a "draft" agreement, which is what he signed. It has been hailed as "historic" by all parties involved. While France maintains its neutrality , Wamytan said that at the negotiating table it was two (France and New Caledonia's pro-France bloc) against one (pro-Kanaky). A main point of tension was the electoral law changes, which are said to have sparked last year's civil unrest. "We call on France to respect the provisions of international law, which remains our main protective shield until the process of decolonisation and emancipation is completed. Hence, our incessant interventions during negotiations on this subject (electoral law changes)," Wamytan told RNZ Pacific. He said it is difficult to understand whether France wants to decolonise New Caledonia or not. "We have a lot of concrete measures in this proposed agreement, but the main question is a political question. Where are you (France) going with this? Independence or integration with France?" The document, signed in the city of Bougival, involves a series of measures and recognition by France of New Caledonia as a "State" as well as a double citizenship - French and New Caledonian - provided future New Caledonian citizens are French nationals in the first place. But this week, New Caledonia's oldest pro-independence party, the Union Calédonienne (UC), officially rejected the political agreement signed in Paris. Wamytan maintains New Caledonia is not France . But the French ambassador to the Pacific has previously told RNZ Pacific New Caledonia is France . However, Sonia Backès, the leader of the Caledonian Republicans Party and the president of the Provincial Assembly of Southern Province, says the agreement signed in France is "final". "Roch Wamytan and the pro-independence delegation signed an agreement in Bougival. Since their return to New Caledonia, their political supports have been fiercely critical of the agreement," her office said via a statement. "As a result, radical pro-independence leaders like Roch Wamytan have chosen to renege on their commitment and withdraw their agreement is final; there is no other viable political balance outside of it." France's President Emmanuel Macron, left, France's Minister of Overseas Manuel Valls, France's Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, President of the French National Assembly Yael Braun-Pivet, Secretary General of the French Presidency Emmanuel Moulin, first vice-president of the customary senate of New Caledonia Ludovic Boula, representative of the second vice-president of the customary senate Victor Gogny, and President of the customary senate Aguetil Mahe Gowe attend a custom ceremony as the inauguration of a summit on New Caledonia at the Elysee Palace in Paris on 2 July 2025. Photo: AFP / Ludovic Marin When asked why he signed the draft agreement when he does not agree with it, he said: "After the 10 days they obliged us to sign something." "We told them that we [didn't have] the mandate of our parties to sign an agreement, but only a project or draft. "It was important for us to return with a paper and to show, to explain, to present, to debate, for the debate of our political party. This is the stage where we are at now, but for the moment, we do not agree with that. "We [tried] to explain to [France and pro-France bloc] that we have a problem [with electoral law change being included]. "This is our problem. So we signed only for one reason…that we have to return back home and to explain where we are now, after 10 days of negotiation. [Did we] achieve the objectives, the mandate given by our political parties?" He said one thing he wants to make clear is that what he has signed is not definitive and is now up for negotiation. An FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front) Congress meeting is set down for this weekend with the Union Calédonienne Congress meeting held the weekend prior. Wamytan said that it is now up to the FLNKS members to have their say and decide where to next. "They will decide if we accept this draft agreement or we reject," he said. "We have two options: we accept with certain conditions, for example, on the question of the right to vote on the electoral rule. Or for the question of the trajectory from here to independence. Through a referendum or the framework proposed by President Macron." "This is an important element to discuss with France, but i is after this round of discussions." He expects further meetings with France after community consultations. French Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls (centre) shows signatures on the last page of New Caledonia's new agreement Photo: FB supplied Wamytan admits the pro-independence negotiators did not communicate clearly about the agreement to their supporters. He said after signing the document, President Macron and the pro-France signatories were quick to communicate to the media and their supporters - and the messages filtered to his supporters resulting in anger and frustrations. He said the anger has mostly been around the signing itself, with people mistaking the draft proposal as final. "The political, pro-Kanaky party were very, very, very angry against us. We did not communicate and this I think is our problem." Wamytan has also dismissed unconfirmed reports that negotiators were bribed to sign a historic deal in Paris. He said he was aware of people chucking accusations of bribery around, but said they were false. "It has never been in the minds of Kanak independence leaders doing such practice practices," he said. "After the signature of the Matignon Accord, 37 years ago, with [FLNKS leader Emmanuel Tjibaou] and with us after the signature of Noumea accord in 1998, we heard about the same allegation and some rumors like this."
