The French overseas minister Sebastien Lecornu is adamant New Caledonia's independence referendum should go ahead on December 12th.
The minister is in the territory and due to meet with its leaders later this week once he is out of quarantine in Noumea.
Mr Lecornu says only an out-of-control pandemic could justify a postponement and he doesn't want the Covid-19 outbreak to be used for political ends.
My colleague Walter Zweifel has been following developments, Kia ora Walter, so a bit of a disagreement brewing over the holding of this third and final independence referendum?
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Sebastien Lecornu Photo: AFP or licensors