Kanak pro-independence leader Christian Téin back in New Caledonia

Kanak pro-independence leader Christian Téin arrived back in New Caledonia on Thursday, after spending one and a half year in mainland France, following his arrest in June 2024, at the height of deadly riots in the French Pacific territory.

Soon after landing on a regular flight from Paris, at around 4pm (local time), he was welcomed by a small delegation of family, co-partisans and friends, waving the pro-independence flag of Kanaky.

He did not speak to local media and was almost immediately driven away in a private vehicle to his residence, in the pro-independence stronghold of Saint Louis (near the capital Nouméa).

Later this week, on 6 December 2025, Téin is bound for the North of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, where he is expected to chair an extraordinary meeting of the pro-independence movement FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front) on Saturday in the small town of Ponérihouen (North of the main island).

It will be the first time he will chair an FLNKS meeting in person.

While already serving his initial jail term in the jail of Mulhouse (North-east of France), Téin was elected in absentia president of the FLNKS in August 2024.

Tensions flare up again

Ahead of his return, the FLNKS had called for "calm and serenity", in the view of what it called "racist" and "stigmatising" comments seen recently on social networks, especially from pro-France and anti-independence movements.

FLNKS and its main component, the Union Calédonienne (UC), had said earlier this week they "feared" for Téin's safety.

A close family member, Désiré Téin, who was part of the welcoming committee at the Nouméa-La Tontouta international airport, told local media he has requested French authorities to provide police protection, but did not get any response.

FLNKS said also it welcomed its President Téin's return with "great satisfaction", after an "unjust period of forced detention and exile".

FLNKS also claims Téin and his group were "political prisoners".

Téin and other pro-independence militants were arrested in June 2024, as New Caledonia underwent violent and destructive insurrectional riots that caused a total of 14 dead, over €2 million in material damage, destruction, looting and arson of businesses and residences, hundreds of injured, thousands of jobless and an estimated drop of by 13.5 percent of the French territory's GDP.

After his arrest, Téin was indicted for his alleged role in the events that led to the violence and the group was later flown to mainland France, where they were placed in several jails around the country as part of their pre-trial detention.

Téin still faces charges of "conspiracy" in order to commit "armed thefts", "destruction" to prepare "crimes and delicts", in relation to his alleged part in the 2024 riots, when he was the leader of a Field Action Coordinating Cell (CCAT) set up by Union Calédonienne a few months earlier.

The date of his trial has not been fixed.

"It's now up to the investigating judges, in a few months' time, to decide whether to rule on a lack of evidence, or to bring the indicted persons before a Court to be judged ... But this won't happen before early 2026", lawyer François Roux told reporters on in October 2025.

The 2024 marches were to protest against a plan from the French government of the time to modify the French Constitution and "unfreeze" the restrictions on the list of eligible voters at local provincial elections.

The indigenous pro-independence movement said these changes would effectively "dilute" the Kanak indigenous vote and gradually bring it closer to a minority.

In October 2025, a panel of judges revised Téin's pre-trial judicial conditions and eventually cleared him and others to return to New Caledonia.

Epidermal reactions

Téin's return, since it was made possible by the judges' decision, has sparked controversy and mixed reactions in New Caledonia.

While FLNKS welcomed the ruling, pro-France and anti-independence parties have clearly expressed strong opposition to the prospect because of the "risks involved" in terms of civil peace in a "fragile" social and economic context after the May 2024 riots.

An online petition also gathered around 11,000 signatures from people who describe themselves as a "Citizens Collective Against the Return of Christian Téin."

They oppose his return and regard him as the leading figure of the protests that led to the 2024 riots.

They say the Kanak leader's return is likely to "revive" tensions and "fractures" within New Caledonia's society.

Mid-October 2025, prominent pro-France leaders Nicolas Metzdorf and Sonia Backès insisted that Téin's return to New Caledonia could cause more unrest.

Le Rassemblement-LR leader Virginie Ruffenach also reacted saying she wondered whether "the judges do realise the gravity of their ruling".

"We're opposed to this...it's like bringing back a pyromaniac to New Caledonia's field of ashes while we're trying to rebuild", she told local media.

Téin's election as President of the FLNKS, during its August 2024 Congress, was the last straw that triggered a de facto split from two of its main pillars : the moderate pro-independence UPM (Union Progressiste en Mélanésie) and PALIKA (Kanak Liberation Party).

They have since distanced themselves and recently announced their official split from the UC-dominated FLNKS.

Pro and anti Bougival, behind closed doors negotiations

Téin's return comes as New Caledonia's political context remains tense and complicated.

It is marked by the announcements made by French Overseas Minister Naïma Moutchou during her visit to New Caledonia in November 2025, and the difficult implementation of a so-called "Bougival" agreement signed in July, the Minister has announced she wanted to hold an "anticipated consultation", in a form similar to a referendum, asking of New Caledonians approve of the project or not.

She said this was a way of giving the people their voice back.

This week, a group of three high-level French public servants is holding a series of roundtables, behind closed doors, with all parties across the political chessboard.

One more time, they are attempting to gather support and consensus around the Bougival deal.

As Minister Moutchou stated on several occasions since her appointment in October 2025, the mantra is "not without the FLNKS, as long as they don't want to do without the other (parties)".

Nothing has transpired from these sessions which began on Monday this week.

On the basis of pro and anti-Bougival, most pro-France parties have remained committed to the text.

But moderate Calédonie Ensemble and Eveil Océanien have recently expressed reservations.

New Caledonia's local Congress is expected to vote on the Bougival text on Monday 8 December 2025.

This would be a non-binding vote which would be taken into account, on an advisory basis, by the French Parliament when it, in turn, pronounces itself on the Bougival text.

FLNKS has long made it clear it rejected the text it says was not an agreement in the first place, but only a "project".

FLNKS said a few days after the signing that the Bougival deal was rejected "in block" because it did not meet the party's expectations in terms of full sovereignty.

Even UPM and PALIKA have also recently expressed reservations, saying their request for possible alterations to the text, in relation to how transfers of powers from France to New Caledonia will materialise in legal terms have so far remained unanswered.

They are now threatening to remove their support to the text.

The Bougival text mentions the creation of a "State of New Caledonia", a short-term transfer of powers from Paris, including in foreign affairs matters and the dual French-New Caledonian nationality.

To allow more time for talks, on an inclusive and consensual basis, the French Parliament endorsed in October 2025 the postponement of New Caledonia's provincial elections to June 2026.

In a media conference, Union Calédonienne (UC), the main component of FLNKS, recently warned against the risks associated with yet another "passage en force".

"This is a message of alert, an appeal to good sense, not a threat", UC Secretary General Dominique Fochi added.

"If this passage en force happens, we really don't know what is going to happen," Fochi said.

FLNKS said it was ready to pursue talks with the French government, but on a fresh basis, outside Bougival's framework, and taking into account their short-term goal of full sovereignty.

It has recently called on its supporters and "pressure groups" (including its controversial CCAT) to mobilise again to oppose the controversial text and, as prominent figure Roch Wamytan terms it, "use every legal means" to do so.