24 Oct 2005

Former Kanak separatist leader says New Caledonia treaty adrift

8:34 am on 24 October 2005

A former leader of the pro-independence movement in New Caledonia, Roch Wamytan, says the Noumea Accord is drifting away from its original spirit.

Mr Wamytan says he recently went to New York on his own initiative, to talk to the United Nations Decolonisation Committee on the political situation in New Caledonia.

Mr Wamytan says he had no formal mandate from the organisation he led until 2001, the FLNKS, or Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front.

The front has been unable to elect a leader since Mr Wamytan's departure.

Mr Wamytan said his main objective was to have the FLNKS voice heard again at the UN tribunal, as he had signed the Nouméa Accord in 1998, on behalf of the FLNKS.

Mr Wamytan said the exploitation of New Caledonia's huge nickel resources by international companies, was tantamount to 'looting'.

He says he's called on the UN to send a fact-finding mission to New Caledonia so they can see for themselves.