Australia and New Zealand had already begun repatriating their citizens on Tuesday. (File)
The first plane to evacuate tourists stranded in France’s Pacific territory of New Caledonia took off on Saturday, the islands’ high commissioner’s office said, as President Emmanuel Macron’s government tries to ease the crisis.
The international airport in the capital, Noumea, has remained closed for more than a week, with all commercial flights cancelled until at least Tuesday because of the unrest.
“The measures to repatriate foreign nationals and French tourists will continue,” the high commission representing the French state said in a statement.
The tourists departed on Saturday from Noumea’s Magenta Airfield on a military plane bound for Australia and New Zealand, an AFP journalist said.
They will then have to catch a commercial flight to mainland France.
“I was on holiday visiting my best friend but then the conflict broke out and I was stranded,” Audrey, who did not want to give her surname, told AFP in Noumea.
Australia and New Zealand already began repatriating their citizens on Tuesday.
For many people trapped in a region that has been rocked by violence over voting reform since May 13, things are gradually easing.
Seven people have been killed in the violence, with the latest death being a man shot dead by police after being attacked by protesters on Friday.
Possible referendum
New Caledonia has been under Parisian rule since the 1800s, but many of the indigenous Kanak people still resent French power over the island and want fuller autonomy or even independence.
France plans to grant voting rights to thousands of non-indigenous long-term residents, but the Kanak people argue this will reduce the influence of their vote.
President Emmanuel Macron visited the islands on Thursday in an effort to urgently resolve the political crisis.
During a surprise visit, he vowed that planned voting reforms “will not be forced through”.
Macron said Saturday he was ready to hold a referendum on the controversial reforms but said he expected the electoral commission to reach an agreement.
“We can move towards a referendum at any time,” he told Le Parisien in an interview.
“Even if the violence ends, we will have to live together again. That’s the hardest thing,” he said.
The pro-independence FLNKS party reiterated its demand for the voting reforms to be rescinded after meeting with Macron on Saturday.
“The FLNKS has called on the President of the French Republic to make a strong announcement indicating the withdrawal of the draft constitution,” it said in a statement, calling it a “prerequisite for ending the crisis.”
“The situation in New Caledonia currently remains extremely precarious,” Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said in Paris.
France declared a state of emergency and sent hundreds of police and troops to restore order to the Pacific islands, some 10,000 miles (17,000 kilometers) from mainland France.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
