Noumea allies fall out

Press, 16 February 1984, Page 8

Noumea allies fall out

NZPA-AP Noumea A long-standing alliance between the two main antiindependence political movements in the French territory of New Caledonia has collapsed after violent incidents between French settlers and Melanesian tribesmen demonstrating against French colonial rule. Roger Laroque, the Mayor of Noumea and one of the leaders of the Rally of Caledonians for the (French) Republic, announced that his movement would have no more dealings with its former allies in the Right-wing anti-inde-

pendence Caledonian Front. A group of Melanesians last week occupied a cattle ranch near Voh, 300 km north-west of Noumea, and built a hut on a pasture to symbolise the illegal acquisition. They were expelled by the police after clashes with more than 100 members of the Caledonian Front, who had gone to the area to oppose the squatters. Mr Laroque said that his party would not allow itself to be provoked by the Caledonian Front into acts of illegality and violence while defending French sovereignty and, “the sacred right to private property."