What The World Says

World Reaction To The

referendum result in New Caledonia was predictable.

French Prime Minister Mr Jacques Chirac called the result a “triumph” and pledged that his Government would strive to “ensure that Caledonians can build together a fraternal society based on tolerance”. In an attempt to as suage Kanak feelings Mr Chirac said he would offer more autonomy to the territory.

“My Government will propose an Autonomy Statute within the frame work of a broad regionalisation which can be accepted by all Caledonians and provide the stable institutions so badly needed by the territory,” the French leader said.

His Socialist opponent in Paris, First Secretary Mr Lionel Jospin, disa greed, saying that the referendum “would not solve a thing”.

This view was echoed by Australian Prime Minister Mr Hawke who said that 58 per cent voter participation would not sustain “any assertion by France that they have an authority now which will settle the issue in the troubled region ... I can’t see any real likelihood (except) instability.” The result of the referendum would only make both sides more intransigent in their de mands, Mr Hawke said.

The New Zealand Foreign Minister Mr Russell Marshall said that a “sig nificant proportion of the population did not express their views and that the referendum could serve to deepen the divisions between the communities of New Caledonia.

The Foreign Ministers of Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, in a joint statement, called for international pressure to end French rule in New Caledonia in the wake of the referendum result. The three Min isters declared their Government’s and peoples’ “total solidarity with the Kanaks in their continuing struggle for freedom and independence in New Caledonia”.

The Ministers appealed for international co-operation in bringing an im mediate end to the “deliberate French neo-colonial policies which are seri ously threatening peace and security in the region”.