What impact might Emmanuel Tjibaou have in New Caledonia

A man with one of the most charismatic names in New Caledonia, Emmanuel Tjibaou, is now the head of its most significant pro-independence party.

Tjibaou, the son of the assassinated leader Jean-Marie Tjibaou, is also one of the two New Caledonian representatives in the French legislature.

Nic Maclellan, who has been covering developments in New Caledonia for Islands Business magazine, spoke to RNZ Pacific about whether this represents a major changing of the guard within the pro-independence lobby.

(The transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.)

Nic Maclellan: It's a major change in that a new generation of political leaders is coming to the fore, not just in Union Caledonienne, which dates back to 1953 - its founding, but amongst other political forces in New Caledonia. In part, that's a reflection of the six months of crisis that erupted on 13th May this year, where you had young people, particularly, many born this century, certainly after the signing of the Noumea Accord in 1998, involved in the protests, the riots, the conflict of the last six months.

The election of Emmanuel Tjibaou is a sign that a younger generation is stepping up. The previous president of Union Caledonienne, the largest pro independence party in New Caledonia, and the leading force within the FLNKS - the umbrella coalition for the independence movement - Daniel Goa, the outgoing president was aged 71, had a number of health problems and had been in office re-elected every year since 2012. Tjibaou, taking up the position, is 48 years old, and joined by a number of other younger leaders in the new executive that will lead the party.

Don Wiseman: Someone with a conciliatory approach to things it would seem.

NMac: Tjibaou, for a long time, was a cultural leader rather than a political one. He's never really been a politician. For a number of years, he was director of the Jean Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre, the main arts and cultural complex in the capital Noumea, that was named after his father, Jean Marie Tjibaou. The older man, was a charismatic Kanak leader, a vital force during the 1970s, during the Kanak cultural renaissance, but who went on to transform Union Caledonienne towards taking up a pro-independence policy in 1977.

But in his work, Emmanuel Tjibaou, his son, at the cultural center was very much focused on issues of Kanak identity, culture, language. He then went to work in the Northern Province, running as director of cultural services in the Northern Province on the main island of New Caledonia. And it was only earlier this year that he was inveigled into political action.

As you mentioned, winning a seat in the French National Assembly in elections held in late June, early July. It's the first time in 38 years that a pro-independence Kanak politician has served in the French legislature in Paris. Major breakthrough, and he won convincingly with 57 percent of the vote, drawing obviously on support, not just from indigenous Kanak, but from people from other communities.

DW: This is a seat, of course, that had previously elected a fervent anti independent candidate.

NMac: Yeah, Nicholas Metzdorf was the previous holder of the seat in the northern part of the main island of New Caledonia, up until this year's elections. Metzdorf is a partisan of France, wants New Caledonia to stay within the French Republic. He co-founded a party called Générations Nouvelle Caledonie, but is a leading spokesman of the loyalist bloc, which is the more conservative anti-independence parties in New Caledonia's Congress. He comes from a caldoche family. The caldoche is a name used for long term residents, people born over many generations of European heritage. It was interesting, though that Emmanuel Tjibaou took on that seat and Metzdorf switched to the capital Noumea. So he won the seat in July in the French National Assembly, but covering the capital, where there are many anti independence voters.

Tjibaou ran with his alternate a young caldoche woman, Amandine Darras. Once again an important generational shift. Darras is in her early 30s, a leading environmental activist, very involved in questions of environment, reef protection and so on, a feminist and to have both a young Kanak leader and a woman of European heritage running is really significant, and indeed, Darras has now taken up a position as deputy secretary general of Union Caledonienne at last week's congress, alongside Tjibaou. So there is a significant symbolic as well as practical role to have these younger people stepping into leadership at a crucial time as New Caledonia moves towards negotiations on its future political status.

DW: There's a rift within the pro independence movement, isn't there? Do you think you'll be able to pull them all together?

NMac: I think Tjibaou has a background and a personal manner that will be able to talk with a range of parties, both partners on the independence side and also the anti independence parties that will be involved in these talks about finding a replacement for the Noumea Accord, the agreement that's governed New Caledonia for the last quarter of a century.

There have been significant debates within the independence movement, particularly around two parties, the Party of Kanak Liberation, Palika and UPM, both of which have suspended their operations in the FLNKS, the umbrella body. Palika and UPM have been critical of the violence and conflict over the last six months, particularly critical of decisions taken at an FLNKS Congress in August that opened up the four party coalition to many other smaller groups, including the Parti Travailliste, the Labour Party, Dynamique Unitaire Sud, and others.

I think Tjibaou has the character and the connections to bring people together. It's a name that resonates. Jean Marie Tjibaou, who was assassinated in 1989, was very much a charismatic figure, an iconic figure. The Cultural Centre is named after him. There's a statue of him shaking hands with Jacques La Fleur, the late leader of the anti-independent side.

The Tjibaou name has a lot of mana, has a lot of standing in New Caledonia, and I think Emmanuel Tjibaou, he's got a very difficult job because Union Caledonienne has its own internal debates. A couple of key leaders have been pushed aside in the elections held last weekend, and he will have to work to mobilise his own supporters, to rebuild the relationship with Palika and UPM within the FLNKS and to then prepare for complex negotiations about the way forward. But he's been very clear.

He said in an interview after his election that the pathway towards full sovereignty for New Caledonia remains Union Caledonienne policy. He also, though, talked about the need for economic reforms, given the enormous economic chaos that's come from six months of conflict, that's seen significant damage to industries like tourism and mining, that are the mainstay of the economy.

DW: Well, let's just cover off then, if we can, where we're at in terms of this unrest, is there anything happening? Or the troops that are there, are they preparing to go home?

NMac: I was in New Caledonia for a few weeks in October, reporting for Island's Business magazine, and it was very calm, certainly in the capital Noumea. In a series of decisions, the FLNKS and the CCAT network, the activist network that was created earlier this year that brought together people onto the barricades, has demobilised a lot of their forces.

So roadblocks and barricades have been taken down, and there was a level of surface calm, but there are still some 6000 security forces deployed, particularly gendarmerie, backed up with armoured cars and helicopters and so on, riot squads, anti terrorist squads. When I was there, the hotels were full of tall young men with short haircuts. And you realize that with the collapse of the tourism industry, 1000s of French police are staying in the tourist hotels in the plush part of Noumea.

The High Commission has just extended the overnight curfew, which is currently from midnight till 5am for another week, and restrictions on public gatherings and demonstrations have been extended till December 20th. My suspicion is that they will probably continue into the new year over the Christmas, New Year period, before the French state will make decisions about whether they should start slowly drawing down the troops.

People I spoke to, however, thought that the calm and the improved security situation was pretty fragile, and I think France will be reluctant to withdraw all of the security forces that were deployed from both France and French Polynesia, unless there's a guarantee that things won't erupt again. Yeah, so I think that there's basically nothing big likely to happen between now and Christmas. There's another French diplomat there this week talking with people about the way forward.

As is the way in the Pacific nothing really is going to happen till mid January or late January. Everyone's going to go home for Christmas, and there'll be a lot of talk in the corridors, but I don't think we're going to see a major announcement about when negotiations might start. I suppose that's the one thing worth saying. It's clear that negotiations will go ahead in 2025 about a new statute to replace the Noumea Accord. Union Caledonienne has indicated that it will participate in those talks, although we'll see how this plays out in coming weeks.