UPM leader Victor Tutugoro (centre) announces split from FLNKS at a media conference on Thursday in Nouméa . Photo: LNC
New Caledonia's Progressist Union in Melanesia (UPM), one of the historic founding members of FLNKS (Kanak socialist National Liberation Front), has announced its official withdrawal from the pro-independence umbrella, until further notice.
The FLNKS was founded in 1984, at the height of a quasi civil war that marred the second half of the 1980s in New Caledonia.
Speaking at a press conference, UPM leader Victor Tutugoro said the withdrawal was now official, following the party's Congress held at the weekend in the small town of Poum.
"We cannot return to the way FLNKS is working today," Tutugoro told local media.
The comments were in direct reference to the last pro-independence gathering under the FLNKS umbrella, in late August, in the small town of Koumac.
Both UPM and another moderate pro-independence FLNKS founding member, PALIKA (Kanak Liberation Party) did not attend that meeting.
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Union Calédonienne (UC), another historical member of FLNKS and the RDO (Rassemblement Démocratique Océanien), were the main driving force behind the August meeting.
At the Koumac congress, it was resolved that several parties and unions, including a UC-created radical "CCAT" (Field Action Coordinating Cell) would join FLNKS and that the leader of CCAT Christian Téin (currently serving pre-trial jail in mainland France), was now the President of FLNKS, a position that had remained vacant for over 20 years.
Since late 2023, after it was created by an increasingly radicalised UC, the CCAT has been tasked to organise protests and demonstrations which, originally peaceful, turned violent and led to the riots that started in New Caledonia mid-May.
Both UPM and PALIKA have cautiously and increasingly distanced themselves from the hard-line stance.
After the August meeting in Koumac, the two moderate parties have also stopped taking part in any UC-dominated FLNKS debates, saying they did not recognise themselves in the new structure and its leadership.
he Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) flag. Photo: AFP
UPM leader Tutugoro said on Thursday his party was now demanding a "clarification" from FLNKS regarding the "destructions, the lootings, the arson".
Pending this requested FLNKS "clarification", UPM said it will stay away from the new UC-dominated pro-independence FLNKS and especially meetings from its political bureau.
In late June 2024, Tutugoro's house was targeted and destroyed by fire at the height of rioting.
The violence has caused 13 deaths, injuries to several hundred people as well as the loss of close to 10,000 jobs affecting over 800 businesses, for an estimated financial damage of 2.2 billion Euros].
"The May 13 events have cast suspicion on our political project," Tutugoro said.
"What has happened is contrary to our values and everyone, in UC and in RDO, bears a responsibility."
He named some of these values as being democracy, diversity, and solidarity.
The UPM now intends to continue promoting an "independence in partnership with France" and the notion of "shared sovereignty".
It intends to do so as part of another pro-independence format, the local Congress caucus "UNI" (National Union for Independence) which also includes PALIKA.
Within the same Congress caucus format, the other main pro-independence group is the UC-FLNKS.
PALIKA and UPM have for years openly stated that while accessing full sovereignty remained a key element, they favoured a "shared sovereignty" with France, sometimes also termed "independence-association".
And that prior to this, they remained committed to taking part in any round table meeting, PALIKA spokesman Jean-Pierre Djaïwé said at the weekend while his party was also holding its congress.
PALIKA has not yet announced officially whether it would make a similar decision to that just announced by UPM.
Within the anti-independence camp (which favours New Caledonia remaining part of the French republic), over the past few weeks, references to the once-unified FLNKS have gradually changed to a distinction between the "moderate" pro-independence parties and the "radicals" and their newly-affiliated components.
The date for the next provincial elections, initially scheduled to take place in May 2024, was postponed to December 2024, and then once again to no later than 30 November 2025, following recent votes by the French Parliament and New Caledonia's Congress.
This was to allow more time for inclusive talks between local parties to restart and reach a comprehensive consensus regarding New Caledonia's future political status, that would serve as the basis for a new roadmap for the French Pacific archipelago.
As part of a "dialogue and concertation" mission, the Presidents of both French Houses of Parliament, Yaël Braun-Pivet (National Assembly, Lower House) and Gérard Larcher (Senate, Upper House) were in New Caledonia earlier this week].
The top French lawmakers stayed for three days to try and restore favourable conditions for the resumption of those talks, within a perceived reasonable window of opportunity ending in March 2025.
During their visit, they repeatedly advocated for the option of "shared sovereignty".