France accuses Azerbaijan of fomenting deadly riots in the overseas territory of New Caledonia – POLITICO

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly accused France of “neocolonialism” and has actively supported independence movements and other countries’ demands on French territories around the world, notably on the island of Mayotte and New Zealand. Caledonia.

Azerbaijan even founded the Baku Initiative Group, bringing together 14 political movements from the former French Empire in the name of decolonization. The group released a statement Thursday in which it accused Paris of “undermining the right of the Kanak people to self-determination by expanding the electorate to keep them a minority in their own country.”

However, according to Philippe Gomes, former president of the government of New Caledonia, Azerbaijan actively finances the Kanak and socialist independence National Liberation Front.

“Azerbaijan created the Baku group which finances separatists in all French overseas regions,” said Gomes, who has tried to suppress calls for separation of the islands from Paris. “The recent trips to Paris by independence activists were financed by Baku. It is clear and obvious that Azerbaijan is helping to support the demand for independence, which can be characterized as foreign interference,” Gomes said.

Roch Wamytan, a Kanak politician who is president of the Congress of New Caledonia, rejected allegations that Baku has harmful influence in the region. “Why demonize this country? he asked in April as part of a row over local politicians benefiting from paid trips from authoritarian Azerbaijan. “France supports repressive and authoritarian regimes like Togo, Chad, Djibouti, by training their security forces, advising their military hierarchy and selling weapons,” he said.

As part of the state of emergency, France banned TikTok in New Caledonia in an apparent bid to disrupt the organization of protests that left hundreds injured. The decision also allows authorities to order the house arrest of people considered a threat to public order, as well as to carry out searches, seize weapons and suspend the right to free assembly.

“No violence will be tolerated,” French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said, insisting that the draconian measures “will allow us to make enormous efforts to restore order.”

Home to more than a quarter of a million people, New Caledonia was settled around 3,000 years ago by Pacific islanders and named by British explorer James Cook in 1774. It was later conquered by the France in 1853. In recent years, accusations have been made against her. that the indigenous Kanak people face systemic discrimination and chronic underdevelopment.