New Caledonia Commemorates Matignon Accords

Matignon agreement served as predecessor to Noumea Accord

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Radio New Zealand International, June 26, 2013) – New Caledonia today marks the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Matignon Accords which ended years of political discord and violence.

The deal was reached between the anti-independence leader, Jacques Lafleur, and Jean-Marie Tjibaou of the pro-independence camp.

It lasted for ten years when, again under French leadership, a successor agreement, the Noumea Accord, was signed to provide the current roadmap to the phased and irreversible transfer of power from Paris to New Caledonia.

The Noumea Accord provides for a possible referendum on independence between 2014 and 2018.

The day has been marked by one signatory, the Rassemblement-UMP, which says that since the party’s inception in 1977 its only target has been to retain New Caledonia within the French republic.