NOUMEA (Oceania Flash) — Youths in the troubled Saint Louis villages, in the suburbs of the capital Noumea, have vehemently denied any involvement in the murder of a Futunian man last week, the daily newspaper Les Nouvelles Caledoniennes reports.
A group of Kanak from that tribe has issued a statement saying they “deplored” 35-year-old Petelo Motuku’s death last week.
They also said they did not want to be designated as the possible culprits of these actions.
Motuku was shot in the back as he was driving his vehicle on the road near Saint Louis. Since December last year, regular gunfights have occurred in the area.
A group of resident Kanaks is demanding that a 1,000-strong community from Wallis and Futuna leave the neighboring Ave Maria Catholic mission, where they began settling in the 1960s.
“We deplore any human loss. One man’s life is too important to be wasted in any manner,” the release went on.
“We also deplore the fact that our tribe’s youths are designated as being obviously responsible for this.”
The signatories also expressed the wish that current talks find a quick way out of the impasse “so that Wallisians and Futunians are re-settled quickly and in a dignified manner.”
One week after Motuku’s murder, Saint Louis Catholic-run primary school and kindergarten was to re-open this week.
It had been closed for obvious safety reasons.
Some gunshots had left impacts on the canteen’s walls.
“Although thousands of gunshots have been fired since the conflict has started in December, this was the first time the school had been targeted…. Until now, the school had always enjoyed respect and was seen as a haven for peace. This is probably the only place where a contact is maintained between the Wallisian and Melanesian communities, through the children and their mothers,” the Catholic Education office DEC said in a statement.
As a result of a meeting held last week at the French High Commission in Noumea, it was also resolved that both Saint Louis primary and close-by Thabor secondary schools would be further protected by police and military.
Motuku’s funeral took place on Thursday near Noumea.
His family took the opportunity to call on all communities to stop the violence, hoping the latest fatality would serve as a wake-up call for all parties to reconcile.
“Petelo, you died for peace,” a close family member said in front of a one-thousand-strong crowd, including Melanesians, Asians, Europeans, representing several ethnic groups of New Caledonia.
Motuku was the third victim of the seven-month ethnic unrest. The two others are Kanak youths.
Territorial government President Pierre Frogier also paid homage to the latest victim, stressing “only dialogue can restore understanding in Saint Louis.”
But he added current negotiations would not progress until a “rebel” group which, he said, worked to sabotage the talks, would remain at large.
