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THE CONTEMPORARY PACIFIC. FALL 1993 which urged Rabuka to "completely NEW CALEDONIA reject and throw out of the window with precipitated [sic] haste the devilish Leaders ofthe Front de liberation concept ofgovernment of national nationale kanak et socialiste (FLNKS) unity" (FT, 22 Dec 1992). The Fijian had set 1992 as the date of the first National United Front supported the assessment ofthe Matignon Accords. idea but on the condition that Fijian There were many meetings ofthe vari­ interests always remain paramount. ous pro-independence parties during Many members of Rabuka's own party the year, although final results will not agreed that non-Fijian parties will be be known until after the FLNKS conven­ junior partners in any government of tion in mid-January 1993, and the national unity. meeting of the Matignon Accords mon­ How, or if, the idea of a government itoring committee scheduled for late of national unity will work will be a January or early February 1993. major challenge for 1993. Another, The month ofMarch represented a tragically, will be coping with the con­ dark period for the territory. While the sequences of devastating floods, the first two cyclones of the season, Betsy worst in nearly fifty years, which hit in January and Daman in February, the country soon after Christmas, had narrowly missed New Caledonia wrecking the economy and the infra­ and caused only minor damage, structure and causing damage esti­ Cyclone Esau hit squarely during the mated in the millions. The devastation night of 4 March. It was followed less came just as the economy was showing than a week later by Cyclone Fran. signs ofrecovery after years ofpoor These storms caused considerable performance. destruction, particularly in the North BRIJ V. LAL Province. As residents reeled under the impact .. ::. of Cyclone Fran, they learned of the death at age forty-six ofJacques MUCH OF this review is based on my Iekawe, the man in charge of the eco­ field notes, personal correspondence, nomic development of the territory. In and accounts in newspapers and news­ 1991 he had been appointed secretary­ letters such as Canberra Times (eT), general ofthe South Pacific Commis­ Fiji Times (FT), The Review (TR), sion. The territory, metropolitan Islands Business Pacific (IBP), Washing­ France, and the whole Pacific region ton Pacific Report (WPR), and Pacific were unanimous in their tributes. Islands Monthly (PIM). The Prisunic-Barrau shopping cen­ ter, one ofthe oldest established com­ mercial centers in Noumea, was burned and looted on the night of 13 March following a violent outburst outside a local nightclub. This was per­ ceived by most observers as a sign of growing dissatisfaction among a young , " POLITICAL REVIEWS -predominantly Melanesian-seg­ senator Dick Ukeiwe, member of the ment of the population, which feels Rassemblement pour la Caledonie dans excluded from the benefits of the la Republique (RPCR, the largest anti­ Matignon Accords. independence party), had expressed his In September, two elections were intention ofrunning for another term, held, a week apart. On 20 September, his party's nomination committee pre­ New Caledonian voters, along with all ferred to put forward Simon Loueck­ other French citizens, expressed their hote, current president of the Territo­ opinions in a referendum on the Maas­ rial Congress. Dick Ukeiwe decided to tricht Treaty concerning the future of run anyway, with the support of the the European Economic Community. smaller anti-independence group Cale­ No real political campaign on this issue donie demain (Caledonia Tomorrow). was mounted in the territory and, The other anti-independence parties apart from televised statements by met­ gave their support to the RPCR candi­ ropolitan French political parties, few date, with the Front caledonien calling utterances were made by local politi­ for blank ballots in the first round of cians to induce voters to participate. voting. At the other end of the political Only about a third of the registered spectrum, the FLNKS nominated Rock voters turned out at the polls, a bare Wamytan, a member of its largest fac­ majority of whom opposed ratification tion, the Union caledonienne, the man (5°.32 percent). The South Province responsible for the external relations of had the highest turnout (44.2 percent the FLNKS. Rock Wamytan enjoyed the of registered voters), and returned a support of Nidoish Naisseline's Kanak 53.3 percent vote against. In the North Socialist Liberation party, and of and Islands provinces, while voter par­ Michel Hema's Union oceanienne. ticipation was lower (20.5 percent and After the second round ofvoting Simon 8.8 percent respectively), the outcome Loueckhote was declared the winner was in favor of ratification of the treaty with 192 votes, against 188 for Rock (6r.5 percent and 72.7 percent respec­ Wamytan and 5 for Dick Ukeiwe, with tively). Following the No vote ofthe 3 invalid ballots. The two major candi­ South Province, some members of the dates had been neck and neck after the Union caledonienne faction of the first round of voting, with 172 votes FLNKS, which had left its followers free­ each, while Dick Ukeiwe had 44. dom of choice, later regretted that the Loueckhote, 35, comes from Ouvea independence movement had not taken Island in the Loyalty group, and is now a firmer stand during the campaign. the youngest member of the French On 27 September, a more exclusive Senate. set of voters (known as the greater elec­ The fact that Dick Ukeiwe remained tors) made up of members ofparlia­ a candidate reflects the tensions that ment and representatives of municipal exist within the RPCR. Another symp­ councils, were called on to choose the tom ofthis unease was the feud that territory's representative to the French developed during the second quarter of Senate. Three candidates were compet­ the year between representative ing for the post. Although incumbent Maurice Nenou, a Melanesian, and 410 THE CONTEMPORARY PACIFIC. FALL 1993 party president Jacques Lafleur. The People in September. This convention, split took place over Maurice Nenou's which was attended by a number oftra­ decision to run in the March 1993 legis­ ditional high chiefs, decided to reject lative elections, and over what he per­ elections and political parties in favor of ceived to be a lack ofconsultation in a return to traditional Melanesian forms the running of the party. The two men of authority and an immediate move had finally made their peace by the end toward independence. The great sur­ ofMay, but these tensions led to the prise ofthe convention was the nomina­ creation of a new movement within the tion of Charles Attiti, high chief of the RPCR, called M ouvement des Caledo­ Goro tribe and RPCR militant, as niens libres (Movement ofFree Caledo­ spokesman for the convention and the nians), which gathered some Mela­ Kanak people. He resigned from the nesian elected representatives around position the following month, claiming Dick Ukeiwe. The movement, which that he had been misled about the non­ called for a more democratic approach political nature of the convention. within the anti-independence party, The conflict that had opposed Cono decided to enter its own candidates in Hamu, mayor of Lifou (Loyalty the March legislative elections. This Islands), and two ofthe island's three decision may well lead to a split in the traditional chiefs continued in 1992, RPCR. with the setting on fire of some twenty The Union oceanienne, representing houses in the village of a clan that the some members ofresident Wallisian mayor had supported in a land dispute. and Futunan communities, and created In April, Cono Hamu, his wife, and in 1989 to provide a third option in the children were permanently expelled territory's bipolar politics, experienced from their tribe by the traditional its own difficulties in 1992. In April, a authorities ofthe L6ssi tribal district. splinter group within the party ousted In November, the traditional authori­ its president, Michel Hema, who had ties ofthe Gaicha tribal district also held the post since September 1989. refused the mayor entry into their dis­ This splinter group called an early con­ trict, denying him access to his own vention in July, and appointed a new town hall. The town hall was taken managing committee under the chair­ over by a Chiefly Coordinating Com­ manship ofAloiso Sako, Union ocea­ mittee, which handled essential ser­ nienne's former vice-president. How­ vices and demanded the sacking ofthe ever, both the mainstream and the mayor. The high chief ofWet, the third splinter groups continue to share a tribal district of the island, remained growing tendency to support the inde­ neutral in the conflict, and made possi­ pendence cause. ble the holding ofmunicipal council The United Kanak Liberation Front meetings in a building located on his (FULK), a small pro-independence party territory. There were disagreements led by Yann Celene Uregei and hostile within the various political parties to the Matignon Accords, decided in regarding the conflict. Although this January to disband and announced the particular confrontation seemed to holding ofa Convention ofthe Kanak stem, at least in part, from the person- "."Ii ,I < POLITICAL REVIEWS 4II alities involved, the fundamental ques­ Secretary-General Ieremia Tabai ofthe tion of a clear definition of the res­ Forum Secretariat came on an official pective roles of the political and visit, the first Forum official to do so. traditional (chiefly) authorities has yet The South Pacific Commission finally to be answered in New Caledonia. decided to keep its headquarters in The slowing down ofeconomic Noumea, although this had to be activity, evident over the past two decided by a vote, rather than by con­ years, persisted during 1992. The sensus as had been the Commission's nickel industry, which produces the tradition in the past.

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