PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron is making a surprise trip to riot-hit New Caledonia, the French Pacific territory that has been gripped by days of deadly unrest and where indigenous people have long sought independence. “He will go there tonight,” government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot said after a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday where the president said he’d decided to make the more than 33,000-kilometer (20,000-mile) round trip himself to the archipelago east of Australia. Six people have been killed, including two gendarmes, and hundreds of others injured in New Caledonia amid armed clashes, looting and arson, raising new questions about Macron’s handling of France’s colonial legacy. There have been decades of tensions between indigenous Kanaks who seek independence for the archipelago of 270,000 people, and descendants of colonizers and colonists who want to remain part of France. |
Xi Focus: Xi Meets with HKSAR Chief ExecutiveXi Stresses Writing New Chapter in China's Constitution Practice in New EraChinese, Vietnamese Leaders Exchange Spring Festival GreetingsXi Extends Spring Festival Greetings to All ChineseXi on COVIDXi Meets Algerian Prime MinisterPresident Xi to Make New Year Address to Ring in 2023Xiplomacy: China, Philippines Usher in 'New Golden Era' in RelationsXi Focus: 17World Insights: Xi's Trip to Middle East Significant to Promoting Peace, Cooperation