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French Pacific News In Brief
Patrick Decloitre, Correspondent French Pacific Desk
Curfew maintained, heavy security for French elections second round
The dusk-to-dawn curfew that was imposed in New Caledonia in reaction to the riots that erupted on 13 May has been once again extended until 15 July, French High Commissioner in Nouméa Louis Le Franc said on Friday.
The curfew (8pm to 6am) also implies a ban on the possession, transport and sale of firearms, ammunition and alcohol.
Le Franc told a media briefing that although the situation on the ground had "slightly improved", more damage had been done in the last week on public and private property, mostly by way of arson.
This includes schools and private companies' premises and several vocational training establishments.
Le Franc condemned those actions, "especially those damaging training opportunities which are so essential for New Caledonia's youth".
Special provisions also applied for this weekend, when New Caledonians were called to the polls as part of the second round of the French National Assembly snap election.
Like last weekend, all public meetings were banned from Saturday 6 July to Monday 8 July at 8pm, the French official said.
He had also announced an adapted security setup would mobilise 3,500 police and gendarmes on election day (Sunday 7 July) - "in order to guarantee the smooth running of voting operations for the whole of the territory".
Cost of civil unrest now set at €2.2 billion
The cost of the grave civil unrest that started in New Caledonia since mid-May has been revised to €2.2 billion.
The insurrection-like situation included looting, arson, and roadblocks around the French Pacific territory, with a strong emphasis on the main economic centres in the capital Nouméa and its outskirts.
Local economic stakeholders, in their latest update on Thursday, said a total of about seven hundred companies have been destroyed, mostly by fire and looted, the FINC (Industries Federation of New Caledonia).
Almost twenty primary and secondary schools have also been destroyed at various levels, the FINC said.
The business stakeholders say the emergency assistance so far provided by France is inadequate, even though some funds have already been deployed to assist employees who have lost their job as a result of the riots.
"As New Caledonia's economy is now at a standstill and in a life-and-death situation, the (French) economy minister Bruno Le Maire is not offering the right remedies", they wrote in an open letter signed by about forty stakeholders.
They are asking the French government to "unconditionally" cover for the companies' fixed costs such as electricity, "or else New Caledonia's economy is just going to collapse".
Renowned Kanak heritage ethnologist dies aged 80
Ethnologist Roger Boulay, who was globally recognised as a leading figure in Kanak art history, has died in France aged 80.
Boulay was known for his never-ending quest of historical items from Kanak culture that had been disseminated around the globe over the past two hundred years.
His passion started after he met pro-independence figure Jean-Marie Tjibaou in the late 1980s, who told him of his intention to launch what he termed "a project of inventory (stock-take) of Kanak items in French and European museums".
After over fifty years of research, it has been established that to date, some 17,000 items of Kanak culture are known to exist in about 110 museums around the world.
Boulay also designed several world-class exhibitions dedicated to Pacific and Kanak cultures
He was also instrumental in the creation of the Tjibaou Cultural Centre in Nouméa which posted this week on social networks: "May the spirits take care of you, Roger".
First nuclear test commemorated in Tahiti
The 66th anniversary of the first nuclear test carried out in French Polynesia was commemorated in Tahiti last week.
About 2000 people took part in a peaceful march to commemorate what was then described as Test "Aldebaran" on 2 July 1966 on Moruroa atoll.
Nuclear veterans' association 193, Moruroa e Tato'u (Moruroa and Us), as well as the Maohi Protestant Church, said they were marching to "awaken" the consciousness and "educate" the younger generations.
"It is about the Maohi people's identity and life, due to those nuclear-induced illnesses that have been imposed on us by those bombs," Moruroa e Tato'u newly-elected President, Tevaiarai Puairau, told local media.
Between 1966 and 1996, some 193 nuclear tests, first atmospheric, then underground, took place in French Polynesia's atolls of Moruroa and Fangataufa.
New commander for French Polynesia's armed forces
A new commander for French Polynesia's armed forces has been appointed and will take up his post early August.
The new "Commandant Superior" is Navy Captain Guillaume Pinget (recently upgraded Commodore), who will take over from Commodore Geoffroy d'Andigné, who held the position since 2022, on 7 August.
51-year-old Captain Pinget is a former Commander (2019) of French Navy aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.
The position of Commander of the French Armed Forces in French Polynesia, based in Papeete, is also de facto in charge of the French Navy for the whole Pacific.
Drones to combat mosquito-borne diseases
An experimental study is underway, including in New Caledonia and French Polynesia, using drones to reduce the prevalence of mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever.
The purpose of the experiment is to use versatile drone technology to locate (with cameras) any potential larvae breeding site (which is a major factor of mosquito proliferation), but also to intervene directly and eradicate such breeding sites in remote areas.
"Those drones in fact allow us to really target those hard-to-detect breeding sites," Anna-Bella Faillous, from the Institut Pasteur, said.
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