Following serious unrest in the French overseas territory of New Caledonia, Paris lifted the state of emergency twelve days later. French media quoted the Elysee Palace as saying this morning that the measure will not be extended and will end Tuesday morning at 5 a.m. local time (today at 8 p.m. Central European time). This indicates the French government's readiness to restore the conditions for dialogue.
She added that the basic condition for concrete negotiations is to remove the roadblocks set up by the demonstrators. Meanwhile, Paris announced the deployment of seven additional mobile units comprising an additional 480 police officers. This brings the number of French security forces in New Caledonia to about 3,500 soldiers.
Although the situation has largely calmed down, the capital's Noumea airport, which has been closed since May 14, is expected to remain closed to all commercial flights until at least June 2. Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron went to the South Pacific island nation on a short visit to discuss solutions with political forces. New Caledonia is of particular importance to France militarily and geopolitically, as well as its large nickel deposits.
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