An indigenous legal challenge in a bid to annul the result of last December’s referendum on New Caledonia’s independence from France has failed.

The highest administrative court in Paris has rejected a claim by the Kanak customary Senate that the impact of the covid-19 pandemic was such that the referendum outcome was illegitimate.

More than 96 percent voted against independence in the third and last referendum under the Noumea Accord, but more than 56 percent of voters abstained.

• READ MORE: Other reports on the New Caledonian referendums

The pro-independence parties had called for a boycott of the referendum after France had rejected pleas for the vote to be postponed until this year.

When the first community outbreak of the pandemic was recorded in September, a lockdown was imposed, which was extended into October, as thousands contracted the virus and hundreds needed hospital care.

The court in Paris found that the epidemiological situation had improved in October and November and that by the time of the referendum on December 12, more than 77 percent of the population had been vaccinated.

It also said the year-long mourning declared by the Kanak customary Senate in September was not such as to affect the sincerity of the vote.

No minimum turnout
The court added that neither constitutional provisions nor the organic law make the validity of the vote conditional on a minimum turnout.

In the week before the referendum, 146 voters and three organisations filed an urgent submission to the same court, seeking to postpone the vote.

They said given the impact of the pandemic, it was “unthinkable” to proceed with such an important plebiscite.

They said because of the lockdown, campaigning had been unduly hampered as basic freedoms impinged.

However, the court rejected the challenge and voting went ahead as intended by the French government.

Rejecting the referendum outcome, the pro-independence side said apart from court action, it would seek to win the support for its position from the Pacific Islands Forum and the United Nations.

A pro-independence delegate to last month’s UN decolonisation meeting said French President Emmanuel Macron had declared after the referendum that New Caledonia showed it wanted to stay French although it was known that 90 percent of Kanaks wanted independence.

French Senate mission planned
The French Senate is hearing experts this week as its law commission prepares work on a new statute for New Caledonia following last year’s rejection of independence.

The commission, which is chaired by François-Noel Buffet, has also formed a team that will travel to New Caledonia in two weeks for talks with all stakeholders.

The team is expected to stay for a week and complete its work by the end of July.

In December, more than 96 percent voted against independence in the third and last referendum under the Noumea Accord, which had been the decolonisation roadmap since 1998.

However, the pro-independence parties refuse to recognise the result, saying their abstention had rendered the outcome of the process illegitimate.

Paris plans to hold a referendum next June on a new statute for a New Caledonia within the French republic.

Buffet said his mission to Noumea was to consider the institutional situation by consolidating the dialogue initiated by the Matignon and Noumea Accords between France and New Caledonia.

Electoral rolls issue
A key issue will be the fate of the electoral rolls.

The Noumea Accord, whose provisions have been enshrined in the French constitution, restricts voting rights to indigenous people and long-term residents.

Migration this century has added about 40,000 French citizens who remain excluded from referendums and from provincial elections.

The anti-independence parties want the rolls to be unfrozen, but the pro-independence side is strongly opposed to this.

It told the UN Decolonisation Committee that France’s intention to open the electoral rolls to French people who arrived after 1998 was the ultimate weapon to “drown” the Kanak people and “recolonise” New Caledonia.

It warned the Kanaks would be made to disappear, which would not be accepted but inevitably lead to conflict.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The New Caledonian government has asked the French army to help deal with the covid-19 outbreak as the territory’s medical services are stretched.

Almost 10,000 people have tested positive for covid-19 since the virus was detected in the community in early September, and more than 200 of them have died.

The government said that within three weeks the military could set up 10 intensive care units at the main Noumea hospital and treat between 30 and 60 people over several weeks.

• READ MORE: Other New Caledonia covid lockdown crisis reports

In addition, an air bridge is being set up to France to transport five intubated patients and others needing care in order to relieve pressure on the Noumea hospital, where in the past month 1300 patients have been admitted.

An Aircalin airliner is being modified to carry out this mission.

About 90 percent of critical care units are in use amid concern that a second covid-19 wave is likely to sustain demand while the hospital needs to maintain capacity for patients suffering from other conditions.

Currently, 69 covid-19 patients are being cared for in hotels, mainly in Noumea but also in the Loyalty Islands.

Health pass now needed
The authorities eased restrictions at the beginning of this week while rolling out a health pass now needed to go to restaurants and museums or for domestic air and ferry travel.

They urge the public to be vigilant and prudent, saying the next days will be critical for how the pandemic develops.

Schools are being reopened today, with students obliged to wear masks.

There has been a rush to get the online version of the health pass, clogging and slowing the system producing it.

However, there have also been demonstrations across New Caledonia against the introduction of the health pass.

The gatherings — sometimes exceeding crowd size limits — were held outside the Congress and government building in Noumea as well as at the SLN nickel plant.

So far 53 percent of those over the age of 12 have been fully vaccinated or just under 46 percent of the total population.

Medical personnel as well as airport and port workers must get vaccinated by year’s end or face a US$1750 fine.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

New Caledonia recorded 16 covid-19 deaths yesterday — the highest single day total since the delta strain of the virus arrived in the territory less than three weeks ago.

A spokesperson for the territorial government, Gilbert Tyuienon, said the archipelago “is going through a crisis never seen in its entire history”.

Fifty-two people are in intensive care and 323 hospitalised, while health authorities say the peak of the epidemic has yet to be reached.

• READ MORE: Other New Caledonia covid lockdown reports

Seventy three people have died so far in the emergency.

According to Medipole Noumea Hospital authorities, the territory is entering the hardest phase of the epidemic and it could last a long time despite measures to try and break chains of transmission.

These include containment and a curfew that will stay in place until October 4.

New Caledonians suffer from many co-morbidity factors, with 67 percent of adults obese and an estimated 10 percent who are diabetic.

These health problems mainly concern the indigenous Kanak and Wallisian populations, which also have the highest mistrust of vaccination.

A member of the government of Wallisian origin, Vaim’ua Muliava, begged his community to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

The president of the custom Senate, Yvon Kona, called on the government to ban the sale of alcohol during the lockdown, reports Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes.

“Too many victims linked to covid are recorded every day as well as the number of deaths,” he said.

The territory has a population if 288,000.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The New Caledonian government has extended the current lockdown as well as the curfew, until October as the covid-19 pandemic worsens.

On Thursday, seven deaths from covid-19 were recorded, the heaviest daily toll since the discovery of the first indigenous cases of the disease on September 6.

It brings the death toll to 24 since September 6, announced by President Louis Mapou, during a joint speech with the French High Commissioner, Patrice Faure.

• READ MORE: Other New Caledonian covid crisis reports

A total of 211 people are in hospital, including 29 in intensive care.

Authorities are extremely worried by the current situation which is why lockdown has been extended until October 4.

The 9 pm to 5 am curfew has also been extended until the same date.

President Mapou said: “We must not relax our efforts … to gradually recover a social life that would allow New Caledonia to relaunch itself from October 4.

“This fight is the fight for life. It requires a lot of sacrifices.”

Due in particular to the “risk of spreading the virus”, the representative of France “refuses to take the risk of endangering the population.”

Faure also stressed that “given the violence of comments observed on social networks”, this ban also aims to “avoid excesses that could endanger the organisers, participants or passers-by”.

The public prosecutor had indicated earlier in the day that prosecution would be initiated — especially for death threats made online against doctors publicly supporting vaccination.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Three more covid-19 deaths have been recorded in New Caledonia eight days after it was plunged sharply into the pandemic.

Official government figures as of today show 4 deaths and 1150 confirmed cases of covid-19 recorded since the delta variant outbreak began on September 6.

Until then there had been no covid-19 deaths in the French Pacific territory and only 136 infections recorded during two previous outbreaks.

• READ MORE: Other New Caledonian covid-19 crisis reports

There were 329 new cases reported in the 24 hours leading up to Tuesday and 15 people with the virus are in intensive care.

A curfew between 9 pm and 5 am has been put in place until midnight on Monday, September 27.

The government of New Caledonia has put out a public appeal for assistance to all medical personnel in the country, including retirees.

So far 112,334 people in New Caledonia have had their first covid-19 vaccination jab and 77,109 people have had both doses. The territory has a population of 288,000.

Borders closed
According to the government, this translates to 28.45 percent of the population who have so far been fully vaccinated against covid-19.

Following the outbreak, New Caledonia Tourism has been advising travellers that the territory’s borders have been closed off until December 31 and entry by plane or by boat remains strictly controlled.

It said all international passenger flights have been suspended, except for the transport of medical workers.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

France has declared a health emergency in New Caledonia after covid-19 was detected in the community, RNZ Pacific reports.

The state of emergency was decreed by the French Prime Minister Jean Castex, effective immediately.

The decree, which is valid for a month, allows the authorities to impose restrictions, such as curfews or a lockdown — which the New Caledonian government had already imposed on Tuesday.

• READ MORE: Three delta cases of covid detected in New Caledonia – schools closed
  
• New Caledonia begins two-week lockdown in new covid-19 outbreak
• Other New Caledonian covid crisis reports

Southern province schools were also closed from Monday afternoon.

Today, a law is expected to pass in the French Senate to extend the health emergency in several French overseas territories, including New Caledonia and French Polynesia, to the middle of November.

A government statement said the pandemic had turned into a “health catastrophe” in New Caledonia because hospital capacity was limited, and people had made little use of the access to vaccines.

Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes reported today that there were 66 positive cases in the community after health authorities announced three on Monday night.

The government reported 16 covid-19 cases yesterday, but provincial and local authorities had warned the number was fast rising.

Medical experts in New Caledonia warned last month that the number of vaccinated people needed to be doubled within weeks, prompting the territorial government last Friday to make vaccinations compulsory for adults.

They also said the territory only had about one third of the number of nurses needed to be able to use the intensive care units available.

The virus is now said to be in wide circulation, and yesterday the public was told that in two to three weeks the hospitals would be full.

Until the latest outbreak on Monday, New Caledonia had recorded fewer than 140 covid-19 cases and there had been no fatality.

Since March 2020, the borders have been closed and people allowed to enter have had to spend two weeks in government-run isolation facilities.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.