Federalism under debate in the Loyalty Islands, within the FLNKS and in the Melanesian world

Hello everyone,

The APROFED association is back with you this weekend to relay an article from Nouvelles Calédoniennes in which we learn that  J. LALIE, president of the Loyalty Islands province, is advocating Melanesian federalism.

Find the article at the following link:  Federalism under debate on the Loyalty Islands | Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes (lnc.nc)

Although after the obligation formulated by the State to the Kanaks to choose between integration into France or independence, rejecting the choice of autonomy carried by them, and the de facto choice for accession to full and complete sovereignty in 1977, defended until today, it is appropriate to recall that  certain Kanak leaders although having opted for independence proposed very early on a 3rd way with federalism.

This was the case  in 1985  with  Gabriel Païta, a member of the UC,  who  founded the PFK or Kanak Federal Party  , which he renamed OPAO, with which other well-known people from non-Kanak civil society, such as Jean-Pierre AIFA and Louis José Barbançon, joined.

Two years later,  in 1987, the FLNKS submitted a constitution to the UN  to include Kanaky on the list of countries to be decolonized. Many people are unaware that  the preliminary draft of this constitution,  inspired by Maurice Lenormand, for whom federalism was a key theme,  initially aimed to create a federal state.

In 1988 and 1998, the independence movement signed two peace agreements, establishing the foundations for development and a federal-type administrative organisation in New Caledonia for over 30 years.

In 2003, the FLNKS, at the 15th summit of the Melanesian Spearhead Group in Gizo, Solomon Islands, promoted the Federated States of Melanesia , like the neighboring Federated States of Micronesia, with the aim of creating a Melanesian central bank, a Melanesian parliament, etc.

The President of the Loyalty Islands province recalled in 2020  in a work on federalism by JY Faberon  that the initial idea of ​​federalism in New Caledonia should normally be done first and foremost with the French State.

It is thus possible to see, in view of the federal solution proposed by the loyalists in 2024 in order to emerge from the Noumea Accord and the crisis linked to the insurrection, that  there is indeed a common project where everyone could come together.

It is still necessary that the loyalist vision includes elements of the independence world  as we were able to do within our APROFED project and that the  loyalist project is not imposed  and above all  does not serve to conceal a more dubious project which is the autonomy of the provinces  as mentioned in an article from Nouvelles-Calédoniennes dated September 4, 2024 which you can find below:  Sonia Backès “reassured” after an interview with Emmanuel Macron | Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes (lnc.nc)

We wish you a good read and remind you that federalism is the only solution to reconcile unity in diversity.

The APROFED association