France rejects inspection proposal
p. 36 · Read in the full issue
A SENIOR French diplomat rejected a Forum proposal to send a United Nations decolonisation team to inspect French territory New Caledonia. Presi dential special ambassador to the South Pacific Jacques Le Blanc said such a proposal was not reasonable under the Matignon Accord, designed to take New Caledonia to a referendum on self determination in 1998. “This process has
been approved by the French parlia
ment, has been endorsed by national referendum and everybody agrees this is the right way to solve the matter,” Le Blanc said.
“So we don’t accept any foreign inter ference, especially from the United Nations, since self determination is exactly what the United Nations is
looking for.”