Orbituary

Konok leader, Yann Celene

Uregei, dies aged 67

PRO-DEMOCRACY leader Roch Wamytan has paid tribute to the late independence fighter Yann Celene Uregei, who died at the age of 67 in his Koutio home (near Noumea) last month.

Wamytan, leader of the FLNKS movement called on all supporters to respect a day of national mourning in memory of the late Kanak leader.

“Old Yann, throughout his life, has been a fighter, a flawless combatant for his people’s freedom,” Wamytan said in a release. “He was very affected by our people’s divisions after the signing of the Matignon accords, this led him to withdraw from FLNKS, the movement he helped to form.”

Uregei, a school teacher, entered politics in 1962. He later became a member of the Union Caledonienne (UC) and in 1967 became member, then the first deputy Speaker of the New Caledonian territorial assembly. But in 1970, he left the Assembly and founded the Union Multiraciale de Nouvelle- Caledonie.

In 1975, he founded a coordination committee for Kanak independence and started a series of international trips to promote the struggles of the Kanaky people. In 1977, he was re-elected into the Territorial Assembly for the new party he had just founded, the Front Uni de Liberation Kanak (FULK).

In 1984, in the wake of serious civil unrest in New Caledonia, he was part of the group that formed the FLNKS (Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front), an umbrella of several pro independence parties. The following year, because of his international profile, he was even appointed foreign affairs minister in a self-styled “Kanaky interim government”.

“His passing will be mourned by many in New Caledonia, whether they be pro or anti-independence, for his integrity and charisma were respected

by everyone”, pro-independence

Kanaky Online news service said in a statement... P.NS M