French President Emmanuel Macron is to visit riot-hit New Caledonia, Paris said yesterday, as the first tourists were evacuated from the Pacific territory that has faced more than a week of unrest.
Macron “will leave as soon as this evening,” government spokeswoman Prisca Thevenot said.
He is hoping to soothe tempers over voting reform plans rejected by indigenous Kanaks.
Photo: AP
Earlier yesterday, a Royal Australian Air Force transport aircraft evacuated trapped tourists from a small domestic airport in New Caledonia’s capital, Noumea, as separatist roadblocks still hinder access to the international hub.
Australia and New Zealand sent an initial batch of planes to Noumea Magenta Airport, where correspondents saw the first Australian C-130 Hercules aircraft land and several coaches waiting.
“Passengers are being prioritized based on need. We continue to work on further flights,” Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong (黃英賢) said on social media, announcing two initial flights.
The first transport with evacuees landed in Brisbane, Australia, at about 7pm.
A second C-130 was slated to land in Auckland, New Zealand, at about about 10pm, with New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Winston Peters saying it would bring “50 passengers with the most pressing needs” and promising “subsequent flights in coming days.”
Australian tourist Maxwell Winchester said he and his wife Tiffany were “ecstatic” to hear evacuation flights had begun after being stuck in a barricaded resort for a week.
Charles Roger, director of New Caledonia’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) which operates Noumea’s larger La Tontouta International Airport, said that there would be no commercial flights there until Saturday morning.
The Pacific territory of 270,000 people has been in turmoil since May 13, when violence erupted over French plans to impose new voting rules that would give tens of thousands of non-indigenous residents voting rights.
The unrest has left six people dead, including two police officers, and hundreds injured.
Local prosecutors yesterday said that about 400 shops and businesses had been damaged, many of them by fire, while the CCI on Monday tallied 150 businesses “looted and set on fire.”
The French authorities in New Caledonia said police had so far arrested nearly 270 “rioters.” Twenty-one supermarkets have been able to reopen and gradually restock, the French high commission said yesterday.
French forces were restoring calm across the territory, clearing burned-out vehicles from roads, and deploying troops to protect public buildings, authorities said.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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