‘We’re really torn’: New Caledonia unrest forces French nationals to sail to safety in Australia

New Caledonia was supposed to be just a stop, a pause on a family sailing trip around the world. “But we discovered,” says a French citizen, Xavier Decramer, from his boat in the Nouméa marina, “a very nice place to stay and live. The infrastructure was amazing in terms of roads, libraries, schools. .. and also a very quiet place.

“It’s small, people are kind to each other… hello to everyone… It was a very kind place and, and we really enjoyed that.”

And so, it became home to Decramer, his wife, Maeva Zebrowski, who was born in New Caledonia, and their three young children. Their children were enrolled in schools and the family found community in Nouméa.

But riots that erupted into violence this month have put an end to their return to New Caledonia. After less than a year, the family will, in the coming days, pack their boat with supplies that can be purchased and set sail for Brisbane, Australia – 770 nautical miles, or about six sailing days.

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“It’s obviously with a heavy heart that we’re leaving this place,” Decramer says.

“Given that my wife was born here, we wanted to settle here. It is difficult. We’re really torn between the need to get our family to safety… and the feeling that we’re leaving people behind here — people who can’t leave.”

With Nouméa’s international airport closed to commercial flights, leaving is not an option for many. Several governments have launched repatriation flights to retrieve their nationals from New Caledonia.

Decramer says the decision to leave has been hardest for their three children, “who have made friends at school who won’t be able to come back … to say goodbye to friends who will leave”.

Recent unrest in New Caledonia, the French Pacific territory of 270,000 people, erupted over French plans to merge electoral rolls for provincial elections – changes that would give tens of thousands of non-indigenous residents the right to vote.

Under the terms of the Nouméa agreement, voting in provincial elections was restricted to people who had resided in New Caledonia before 1998 and their children. The measure was intended to give greater representation to the indigenous Kanak population.

Kanak people make up about 40% of New Caledonia’s population, and Kanak groups argue that the new voting rules would dilute their vote.

More than a week of rioting, looting and arson have left six people dead, including two gendarmes, and hundreds injured. France has sent more than 1,000 security forces to its territory overseas and the president, Emmanuel Macron, told a meeting of his defense and security council that there was “clear progress in restoring order”.

But pro-independence activists, mainly Kanak, vowed not to back down from their protests, and reports from Nouméa said some roadblocks removed by security forces were being rebuilt by pro-independence forces.

Decramer says political unrest was ever-present, evident in occasional protests and riots.

“The demonstrations that have been happening in the last few months – yes, they were big, but they were peaceful and they were part of normal life for people who have lived here for a long time. They tell you: ‘Well, there have been 40 years of ups and downs: you’re young, you don’t understand, it’s okay’.

“Unfortunately, we have seen that even the locals have been surprised by the speed and severity of the insurgency.”

But despite political rifts that erupted into violence this month, “there has been a great deal of solidarity between different people.”

“There is a local news radio station, NC La Première, which is doing a fantastic job. They have … an open air show with everyone calling for information or questions … People are helping each other.

“You have people giving codes so that some people who are far away on the islands can recharge their phones. You have people going out to get medicine for elderly people who are stuck in their apartments, live information on which routes are they safe or not, which shops are open or not.”

At the height of the violence, Decramer and his family fled Nouméa to a nearby island in the lagoon outside the capital.

“We were 12 nautical miles away and could still hear some of the explosions from the … city at night. You can still smell the burning plastic from whatever was burning back then. Even far out in the lagoon … you can still feel the turmoil there.”

Decramer says the deaths during the violence have been a tragedy for New Caledonia. But the neighborhood patrols have been “a blessing,” he says. His youngest child’s school is patrolled by class parents at night to prevent him from being attacked.

And Decramer remains positive about the future of New Caledonia, which he hopes will recognize Kanak Indigeneity as well as the archipelago’s multiculturalism.

“I hope that their path to independence will be peaceful, not like today’s.

“In terms of the future of New Caledonia, I think greater autonomy or actual independence is the long-term future of this country. But for it to be a peaceful movement … it has to be inclusive.”