N. Caledonia has 2 weeks to make peace

Press, 17 June 1988, Page 6

N. Caledonia has 2 weeks to make peace

NZPA-Reuter Paris France’s new Socialist Government, determined to end anti-colonial conflict in the Pacific, is giving New Caledonia’s divided people two weeks to strike a deal for peace. The Prime Minister, Michel Rocard, taking on the thorny New Caledonian issue personally, scored a first success on Wednesday when he hammered r out a draft outline for peace presence of-, the leaders of the terFig. tory’s two enemy camps, c A month after taking / office,. Mr Rocard told a '• Melanesian separatist leader, Jean-Marie Tjibaouyj and pro-French leader, Jacques Lafleur, that he wanted an agreement to end years of inter-communal tension by the end of this month. After nearly four hours of talks “the Prime Minister noted a will, on both sides, to seek the conditions to re-establish a lasting peace,” his office said in a statement. His unprecedented talks with Mr Lafleur and Mr Tjibaou, harsh political opponents who have rarely sat at the same table, produced a fourpoint framework for further discussion. While terms remain vague, it gives the strongest signal in years of a common desire by indi-

genous Melanesians and loyalist settlers to call a halt to hostilities, which claimed 28 lives in an April, flareup. The draft accord calls for the islands in the. future to be run as a federation of provinces, an apparent step towards Melanesian claims for greater autonomy. (It suggested the territory in, the meantime could beTuled from Paris, rather than by local institutions now in place. The French \c Government ' would, boost economic and -(Social O, development-) throughout., the islands during ' the transition period. Q 0 (No limit was put on the transition and thereJwas no ! word of anfaftitlon between the poor north inhabited byj the indi- . genous people and the prosperous south, home to European and Asian settlers. Melanesian separatists, who call themselves Kanaks and comprise 43 per cent of the population, complain that the settlers have a disproportionate share of economic and political bower. The two! communities are concentrated in distinct parts of the territory, 20,000kni from France. Reports suggested that Paris could be considering partition.