to Chirac

Oundjo tribe writes to Chirac

Dear Mr Prime Minister.

We have the honour and the sorrow of appealing to you over an injustice perpetrated on us by a representative of your administration. in . .. . r We d°nt hide from you the fact that our tribe is almost all pro-independence. The only time* we are jomed by those who support the anh-mdependence RPCR is when we seek the return of our lands.

Whether one is loyalist or independantiste land is sacred for us, especially land that we are seeking to recover.

The previous Government handed back two properties the 1600 hectare Pidjen station that it bought for cfp 125 million ($A 1,636,340) from the Ballande company, and the other property of 450 ha, called les Cassis for cfp 9 million

($A117,816) from Mr Ali Ben El Hadj.

With enormous disappoint ment we must confess that we failed to exploit the economic potential of the largest property.

But in our strong defence we were hosta to u the aims f certain seivants wh embarked on a ject tha , was tOO ambffious , , f successful it would have se[ved them as model project Ha vmg leamt a hard lesson rom we accepted the prop °* Mr AH Ben El Hadj to rent kom us his former property on mu t l 'ally acceptable terms.

A 12 year lease was signed on March 8, 1986. For us this lease showed our willingness not to reject non-Kanaks who freely accept to live with us. Although Mr Ali Ben El Hadj is a member of Union Caledonienne our de sire for co-existence is also addressed to those who, with

out declaring themselves for independence, don’t proclaim loudly that they want to kill Kanaks.

This deal was made in good faith; Mr Ali Ben El Hadj had a letter from the Director of the Land Board, and on our side we had the official minutes recorded at our tribal meeting and signed by gendarme Lab roche. Thus France had given a moral undertaking to give us back our land . . . and we put our trust in the administrative process.

With the defeat of the Social ist Government in France Mr Ali Ben El Hadj received a notice to quit the property under threat of physical expulsion.

The land was to be vacated and put at the disposal of Mr Gerald Orcan, a settler who has a history of disputes with other settlers . . .

In our subsequent occupa tion of the land (after all the judicial processes had been ex hausted) we were supported by all the people of Pouembout, including some members of the RPCR because they did not want Mr Orcant.

After being expelled from the land we were assured through word of the High Commission er that we would be given our land back when the Land Com mission met in January . . . this didn’t happen.

Now nobody is living on les Cassis, Ali Ben El Hadj can no longer farm and has been bank rupted by the affair, Orcant is living in the town and we know we were used in a media show designed to strike the imagina tion of the anti-independence Caledonian population to prove that the Government is onside with them and that all lands returned to Kanaks will be taken back . . .

Our tribe cannot accept such an injustice, and we count on two factors that people have ignored: • the moral undertaking of France as witnessed in the signature of the official minutes. • the judicial fact of the official letter signed by the Land Board Director to Mr Ali Ben El Hadj.

With these straightforward arguments we’ve sent you this request, Mr Prime Minister, that you won’t have the heart to destroy our strong hopes of regaining our land that has for too long served others rather than us, the true blood of this land.

We don’t beg, we simply ask, Mr Prime Minister give us back our land.

Signed by Francois Tchaonyane, Chief, Council of Elders and 42 people from Oundjo.

Mr Ali Ben El Hadj also wrote to President Mitterrand seeking action.

A young Kanak from Oundjo tribe rides across Pidjen property.