Macron flies to New Caledonia amid ongoing unrest and Indigenous frustration with France

By THOMAS ADAMSON
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron is on a flight to New Caledonia to seek a political solution to the deadly violence that has rocked the French archipelago in the Pacific where Indigenous Kanaks have long sought independence. The rioting has raised new questions about Macron’s handling of France’s colonial legacy, including on the islands some 16,000 kilometers (10,000 miles) from metropolitan France. There have been decades of tensions between the Kanaks and descendants of colonists and others who settled in the territory of 270,000 people and want to remain part of France. Six people have died in this month’s violence.