French gendarmes’s armoured vehicles en route to Yaté. Photo: NC la 1ère
A curfew has been imposed at the weekend in the village of Yaté (South-east of the main island) after renewed land-related clashes between rival communities have left two dead and four seriously injured.
Renewed fights between rival clans took place on Saturday evening, as the village was celebrating the Yam festival, public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la 1ère reported.
The tragedy is being described as another episode of a long-standing land feud between two Kanak communities within the Touaouro tribe.
French gendarmes have been sent in reinforcement (including armoured vehicles) on Sunday and seven individuals have so far been arrested as part of an urgent judicial inquiry for manslaughter, Nouméa's public prosecutor Yves Dupas said in a release.
He added that two men aged 48 and 57 have been fatally shot to the thorax. Another four have been injured and are suffering wounds sometimes inflicted by machete.
A dusk to dawn curfew (from 6pm to 6am) will remain in force until Thursday 22 February, French High Commissioner Louis Lefranc said in a release on Sunday.
The sale of alcohol and the transport of any type of weapons and ammunition are also prohibited and a significant reinforcement of French gendarmes will remain deployed on site until 3 March, he added.
Yaté Road sign entrance. Photo: Supplied
Unanimous condemnations
Lefranc also condemned those "particularly grave" acts" and called for "a swift solution to emerge to this clanic conflict".
The feud is believed to have started over one year ago between two clans of the same village.
Since then, tensions have escalated to a point where one of the clans had given an ultimatum for the other group to leave a disputed land patch claimed by both.
Late 2023, an earlier spate of violence between the two clans led to arrests and some individuals sentenced to short jail terms.
Over the past few days, several attempts to mediate (sometimes involving the President of the local government, Louis Mapou, himself from Yaté) have already taken place in order to appease tensions, but to no avail so far, Dupas recalled.
Mapou also called these actions "inacceptable" and "unbearable".
"It is unbearable for New Caledonia to see such a proportion of violence", he also told public television, calling for the "Kanak society" to "pull itself together.
"Kanak society must find the usual custom ways that are the foundation of our traditional system."
"The origin of this conflict cannot justify the number of persons injured and the death of two fathers. I therefore call on all clans and custom chiefs to act responsibly and work towards a return to peace," Mapou said in a release.
Mapou said all decisions made by French authorities in recent hours "have been made in close consultation with the (New Caledonian) government I preside so that we can bring back peace".
In the 1600-populated small town, all schools were to remain closed on Monday.