Police in New Caledonia have detained two men for questioning after finding the body of the chief of staff of New Caledonia's vice-president.
The badly mutilated body of Jean-Pierre Deteix was discovered next to a beach on Saturday morning.
His car was later found about 15 kilometres away in St Louis.
Mr Deteix had arrived in the territory in 1969 and worked at the side of the pro-independence leader, Jean-Marie Tjibaou, and was a co-founder of Radio Djiido.
He had been the Socialist Party's campaign manager in New Caledonia for Francois Hollande's 2012 presidential election.
The New Caledonian government has issued a statement, condemning this act of violence.
It has praised him as a man of dialogue.
