Strikers who have been blockading electricity supply on Wallis for the past four months are now claiming they have taken over French supply company, Suez, and its local subsidiary Electricity of Wallis and Futuna, or EWF.
The group claims it has the backing of the King of Wallis, who last week announced through a spokesman that the public supply contract with EWF had been terminated.
On Monday, the first tangible signs of the decision were visible with former strikers re-opening EWF agencies and administration buildings, removing name signs and replacing them.
They have also called on subscribers to come and pay their outstanding bills.
But the EWF General Manager Pascal Louvet has urged the general public not to pay any money to the new company and says he hopes to have the issue resolved in a tribunal hearing in Noumea in New Caledonia later this week.
