MATA’UTU (Oceania Flash) — Tension is high on Futuna island after the traditional meeting hut, the Fale Fono, went down in flames in what locals and authorities suspect is an act of arson.
The incident occurred Thursday last week, when villagers of the village of Nuku, in the kingdom of Sigave, were woken up by the blaze, which started spreading at around 1:30 a.m. local television Télé-Wallis reports.
Attempts from the residents to extinguish the fire were unsuccessful and at dawn, only the charred skeleton of the wooden hut remained.
Since then, residents strongly suspect a criminal act, but police have yet to receive a formal complaint on the matter.
However, angry members of the community and from the local chiefly clan have openly vowed to find the criminals.
“We don’t know who did this and why. But if we find them, at best, they’ll end up in hospital,” an angry villager told local TV.
So far, traditional chiefs on the island have refused to comment on the matter.
The fresh tension comes after a visit, last week, of a delegation of chiefs from neighboring Wallis island, in order to ease ongoing tensions between the two islands that form the French territory of Wallis and Futuna.
The delegation mainly consisted of representatives from the king of Wallis, the Lavelua.
This was the first visit from Wallis chiefs to Futuna since grave civil unrest rocked the French Pacific territory, in the last quarter of 2005.
Since then, Futuna islanders and chiefs have on several occasions expressed themselves in critical manner to Wallis, blaming the sister island for causing trouble and therefore hindering its own development.