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First modification: 08/04/2026 - 15:56 Last modification: 08/04/2026 - 16:05
Two years after the riots that shook New Caledonia, France 24 returns to this French overseas territory that is still facing the consequences of one of the most difficult episodes in its recent history. From the Kanak independence bastion of Saint-Louis to Mont-Dore, Nouméa and Bourail, our journalists tour the archipelago to learn how violence continues to mark the lives of its inhabitants.
In Saint-Louis, a community located south of Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia, a French overseas territory in the South Pacific, preparations for a wedding fill the atmosphere with joy. However, the memory of the riots is still very present.
It was there that, during the wave of violence in 2024, two young men were killed by agents of the National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (GIGN), France's elite tactical unit.
Read alsoElections in New Caledonia show the division of the French archipelago
The crisis erupted following a proposal to expand New Caledonia's electoral roll, a reform that reignited decades of tensions over the territory's political future. For many Kanaks, the measure threatened to dilute the weight of the indigenous vote. For sectors loyal to France, however, it represented a long-awaited democratic reform.
Two years later, these competing visions continue to mark daily life
In Saint-Louis, Dimitri Qenegei, who was imprisoned and later exonerated, reconstructs the last moments of several friends who died fighting for what they considered the cause of an independent Kanaky.
A few kilometers away, in Mont-Dore, Florent Perrin remembers the months of roadblocks, neighborhood patrols and the efforts of residents to protect their businesses. He remains convinced that expanding the electoral roll was a necessary and democratic measure.
Businessman David Guyenne watched his family's shopping center burn to the ground during the riots. Despite having lost everything, he decided to stay and rebuild his life.
The divisions go far beyond politics
In the informal settlement of Tindu in Noumea, Elodie raises her three children alone without access to clean water or electricity. Living on the margins of the territory, she assures that she has never felt French.
Further inland, in the rural area, Ghislain Santacroce, a descendant of Corsican penal settlers, had already experienced other episodes of violence. Having witnessed the fighting of the 1980s, he fears that New Caledonia will once again enter a dangerous cycle of conflict and wonders what a future outside France would mean for families like his.
Despite deep differences, there are also signs of hope
In Bourail, the mayor and traditional Kanak leaders are working patiently to rebuild trust and foster real coexistence. Their efforts demonstrate that, after decades of division, dialogue remains possible, even if the shared future envisioned by the peace agreements of the late 1980s is still far from becoming a reality.
Through the testimonies of inhabitants of tribal communities, merchants who lost everything, families who live without basic services and residents of the rural interior, this report shows the different realities of a deeply divided territory and analyzes whether it can still find a path towards reconciliation.
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