Transcript
WZ: Manuel Valls, the French prime minister chairing the talks, told a news conference that the vote has to be irreproachable. He says the outcome of the vote must be incontestable, meaning it has to be a legitimate result reflecting the voters' intentions. The sticking point which remains after the Paris talk is the demand by a pro-independence party for all Kanaks to be automatically to be put on the special roll to be used for the referendum. The law, as it stands, requires voters of Kanak ethnicity to go through the process of enrolling. Some suggest as many as 25,000 Kanaks have not done so. The option are to accede to the party's demand, to have a drive to get all Kanaks concerned to enrol or to change the law, but here the suggestion by an anti-independence party is to include everybody who is born in New Caledonia. What the outcome will be is unclear. There appears to be a consensus though that a high turnout is desirable.
DW: Security was the subject of a special meeting with the New Caledonian leaders on Saturday attended by the justice and interior ministers. Did Mr Valls touch on that.
WZ: He did although it was not meant to be key topic for the official signatories' meeting. In fact, the unrest overshadowed the gathering in Paris and prompted Mr Valls to tackle the topic at the very start of the meeting. While describing the shooting of an unarmed prison escapee as a tragedy, he said what came thereafter can not be excused. Afterwards the main road south of Noumea was blocked for three days with several dozen stolen cars that were set on fire and young Kanaks used guns to repel the police, injuring five of them. To date there have been no arrests. Mr Valls says the situation is fragile and such violence could happen again. He was speaking after the justice and police ministers said they would visit New Caledonia over the next couple of months and send an extra 53 police officers as well as set up a team to fight youth crime.
DW: How was that received?
In general the New Caledonian politicians welcomed the fact that the security problem is being noted at the highest level in Paris. One leader, Harold Martin, who is a former president, believes that youth crime is a political issue, insinuating that it is tolerated by the pro-independence camp. He said at the meeting with the interior minister his concerns were dismissed as being political and to be raised by the meeting with Mr Valls, but he says this never came about. Mr Martin says there has to be a political discussion because, as he put it, putting a policeman behind every coconut tree is not a solution.
