It’s Emmanuel Macron he arrived in New Caledonia on Thursday so that “security” and “dialogue” could be restored “as soon as possible” in the devastated archipelago after more than a week of unrest. “My wish is (…) to be with the population so that peace, tranquility and security return as soon as possible. It is a priority above priorities,” the head of state said as soon as he got off the plane at Nouméa airport.
He then went to the High Commission of the Republic, where political and economic forces were invited to a meeting that lasted more than three and a half hours, followed by an informal lunch.
In the introduction of this meeting, the President of the Republic asked the gathered for a moment to reflect. “I would like to honor those who have fallen in the past few days with a minute of silence,” he announced before naming the six dead. He mentioned it first two gendarmes killedWarrant Officer Xavier Salou and Constable Nicolas Molinari, aged 46 and 22, died on 15 and 16 May.
Among the civilian victims are two young people aged 17 and 19
Their bodies were repatriated to mainland France three days agoat Air Base 125 in Istres, then at 107 in Vélizy-Villacoublay, in the presence of Gérald Darmanin, Minister of the Interior and Overseas Territories, Marie Guévenoux, in charge of Overseas Territories, and Army General Christian Rodriguez, Director General of the National Gendarmerie.
Then he gave the names four dead civilians : Chrétien Neregote, Stéphanie Dooka, Pierre-Yves Girold and Gibril Saïko Salo. The latter, aged 19, was killed at the same time as Stéphanie Docca, 17. He was allegedly shot and wounded by “someone who must have wanted to defend himself at the roadblock” in the Ducos district of Nouméa., the High Commissioner of the Republic Louis Le Franc explained to the journalists. According to the Minister of the Interior, two young people “obviously came to steal a car” and “were killed by live ammunition”.