Recent unrest in New Caledonia backed by Azerbaijan - Any intel?

[Scimitar]

Not sure if the recent unrest in New Caledonia has been on anyone's radar, but France has now directly accused Azerbaijan of backing the indigenous independence movement.

Current State Dept travel advisory rating is Level 3 of 4 - "Reconsider Travel" (Crime and civil unrest emphasized).

Firstly, that's a massive stretch for Azerbaijan, lol.

Secondly, France has closed all air travel, and we have some family currently caught on Island - If anyone can provide any relevant ground intel aside from what's in the press, that would be appreciated. Specifically the likelihood of the situation worsening, or not.

S.

[Badger52]

Any chance they can get out on one of the Aussie planes planning to be sent today? ('course by this clocktime it's a done deal if it worked)

"We've received clearance for two Australian government-assisted departure flights today for Australian and other tourists to depart New Caledonia," she said.

Link to the quote.

[Scimitar]

Thanks Badger.

Their situation is a bit tricky, and so even given the option, they may not be able to leave.

Really trying to get a read on whether this is going to blow over or get worse. There's still sparodic clashes occuring, but although there's a lot of chaos, there seems to be very few casualties... How very French. Lol.

State Dept still has it at Level 3/4. It's mainly the accusations of Azerbaijan backing the independence movement that has us most concerned. I don't need to tell PS.com how a relatively benign political movement can quickly spark into an outright insurgency when given motivation and materiel from an external bad actor.

S.

[Badger52]

Scimitar, how did your family fare (if you can say)? I read that Macron lifted state of emergency in hopes of starting negotiations but also read that the int'l airport will be closed till at least 2 June.

[Scimitar]

Hi Badger,

Thanks for asking - All safe and accounted for.

They said it was a little scary, but ultimately it felt like "the far too common protests (riots) you see in France proper; car burnings, shop looting, but a surprising low casualty rate" --- Apparently it's very French to riot carefully, lol.

For a population of 250k, 7 killed and several hundred injured seems pretty mild to me. Heck, St Louis is of a similar size, and you'd see those number racked up in a few weeks of "normal" operation.

However, the core issue still remains --- The half of the population that is the indigenous Kanak, that were already quite politically radicalized (possibly for fair reason), are reportedly receiving assistance from external bad actors, AND have now had some success using force.

I can't help but think that although Azerbaijan has been the one accused of medaling, that it is Russia pulling the puppet strings.

I suspect we're going to see a slow burning candle on this one --- Where everyone loses, just some more than others... Family is starting to make plans to permanently exit.

S.

[Badger52]

Good to hear your family's alright, thanks.

The first time I ever heard of the place was on McHale's Navy & looked it up on a map. The Azerbaijan connection is strange.