11 Mar 2013

Tahiti opposition pleased with decolonisation setback

2:36 pm on 11 March 2013

French Polynesia's opposition A Tia Porinetia says it is pleased that the UN has refused to put the decolonisation bid made by the territory's president on the General Assembly's agenda.

The A Tia Porinetia leader, Teva Rohfritsch, says the party is grateful to the French president, Francois Hollande, for using his diplomatic channels to thwart Oscar Temaru's bid.

Mr Temaru's party, however, says the modified resolution will be on the agenda in the last week of this month.

The French High Commission has meanwhile rejected a complaint by a senior A Tia Porinetia member and former president, Gaston Tong Sang, who claimed that Mr Temaru's trips to New York were illegal.

The Commission says under the autonomy statute, Mr Temaru wasn't prohibited to go to the UN.