New Caledonia today marks the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Matignon Accords which ended years of political discord and violence.
The deal was reached between the anti-independence leader, Jacques Lafleur, and Jean-MarieTjibaou of the pro-independence camp.
It lasted for ten years when again under French leadership a successor agreement, the Noumea Accord, was signed to provide the current roadmap to the phased and irreversible transfer of power from Paris to New Caledonia.
The Noumea Accord provides for a possible referendum on independence between 2014 and 2018.
The day has been marked by one signatory, the Rassemblement-UMP, which says that since the party's inception in 1977 its only target has been to retain New Caledonia within the French republic.
