Posted on 12 April 2023
Delegates from New Caledonia’s Oceanian Awakening party met with Gerald Darmanin, French interior minister, to discuss the issue of the nation’s sovereignty ahead of the upcoming political sequence in France this week. The party leader Milakulo Tukumuli said that the group felt their perspective was heard by the minister and that there was significant focus on the method moving forward. “What is important for us is not only the date, the deadline, but the methodology," he said.
As a pro-independence party, they aim for the nation to regain independence by 2025, but the anti-independence side wants to be reintegrated with France. The bid for New Caledonia to gain full autonomy has been rejected in the past three referendums. However, the outcome of the most recent one was deemed an inaccurate representation by many as majority of Indigenous New Caledonians did not partake in the vote.