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On June 3, the Socialist Kanak National Liberation Front (FLNKS) of the south pacific French territory of New Caledonia called for French President Emmanuel Macron to abandon the plan to modify the electoral reform.
Widespread protests and riots erupted in New Caledonia in response to the French parliament’s decision to amend the voters’ list
The new voting amendment will give majority to the loyalists undermining the Kanaks’ future towards decolonisation
Kanaks
The Kanaks are the indigenous Melanesian inhabitants of New Caledonia
Kanak peoples traditionally speak diverse Austronesian languages that belong to the New Caledonian branch of Oceanic.
In New Caledonia, the Kanaks comprise 43% of the 1,45,000 population, while the European (French loyalists), Wallisians and Futunians comprise 37%
New Caledonia had Kanaks as the original inhabitants.
France gained control of the territory in 1853 and governed the Kanaks with reservations.
After the Second World War, colonial laws were abolished and the Kanaks were granted French citizenship.
In the 1960s, increased migration from France turned the Kanaks into a minority in New Caledonia.
Angered by their deteriorating socio-economic status and lack of economic and political involvement, an independence movement grew along with the emergence of the FLNKS in 1984.
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a collectivity of overseas France in the southwest Pacific Ocean, south of Vanuatu, east of Australia
The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Chesterfield Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of Pines, and a few remote islets.
The Chesterfield Islands are in the Coral Sea.
The capital of New Caledonia is Nouméa
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