New Caledonia international airport to reopen on June 17, territory’s curfew shortened
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The full resumption of flights at Tontouta airport was made possible by the reopening of an expressway linking it to the capital Noumea that had been blocked by demonstrators.
PHOTO: AFP
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Noumea - New Caledonia’s main international airport will reopen from June 17 after being shut in May during a spate of deadly unrest, the high commission in the French Pacific territory said, adding that a curfew would also be reduced.
The commission said on June 16 that it had “decided to reopen the airport during the day” and to “push back to 8pm (from 6pm) the start of the curfew as at Monday”.
The measures had been introduced after violence broke out on May 13 over a controversial voting reform
The archipelago’s indigenous Kanaks feared the move would dilute their vote, putting hopes for eventually winning independence definitively out of reach.
Barricades, skirmishes with the police and looting left nine dead and hundreds injured, and inflicted hundreds of millions of euros in damage.
The full resumption of flights at Tontouta airport was made possible by the reopening of an expressway linking it to the capital Noumea that had been blocked by demonstrators, the commission said.
Previously, the airport was handling only a small number of flights with special exemptions.
Meanwhile, the curfew, which runs until 6am, was reduced “in the light of the improvement in the situation and in order to facilitate the gradual return to normal life”, the commission added.
French President Emmanuel Macron had announced on June 12 that the voting reform that touched off the unrest would be “suspended” in the light of snap parliamentary polls.
Instead he aimed to “give full voice to local dialogue and the restoration of order”, he told reporters.
Although approved by both France’s National Assembly and Senate, the reform had been waiting on a constitutional congress of both houses to become part of the basic law.
Caledonian pro-independence movements had already considered reform dead, given Mr Macron’s call for snap elections.
“This should be a time for rebuilding peace and social ties,” the Kanak Liberation Party said on June 12 before the announcement. AFP
