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.
I'm a cruise ship worker...these are the FIVE things smart passengers always do onboard
Connecticut Senate passes wide
Connor Wong homers twice, Rafael Devers connects for solo shot as Red Sox hammer Guardians 8
Authorities confirm 2nd victim of ex
Candice Swanepoel stuns in a form
AP PHOTOS: Russian kids ride sticks with a horse's head in hobby horsing competition
Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian makes belated Metropolitan Opera debut as Madame Butterfly
Hamas releases video showing well
Student fatally shot, suspect detained at Georgia's Kennesaw State University
China details regulations on non
US overdose deaths dropped in 2023, the first time since 2018
Vibrant Q1 consumption mirrors China's economic stamina