[Wikipedia]
uMkhonto we Sizwe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMkhonto_we_Sizwe
uMkhonto we Sizwe (Xhosa pronunciation: [um̩ˈkʰonto we ˈsizwe]; abbreviated MK; English: Spear of the Nation) was the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress (ANC), and was founded by Nelson Mandela in the wake of the Sharpeville massacre.
[Aljazeera]16 May 2024
‘Intolerable’: State of emergency in New Caledonia as unrest spreads
France is sending 1,000 additional security personnel to join 1,700 on the ground in bid to tackle situation.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/16/state-of-emergency-takes-effect-in-new-caledonia-after-four-killed-in-riots
France has declared a state of emergency in its Pacific Islands territory of New Caledonia and deployed police and military reinforcements in an attempt to end days of unrest over the French government’s move to change the rules on provincial elections.
The state of emergency came into force at 5am on Thursday (18:00 GMT on Wednesday) and gives the authorities wide powers of search and arrest.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said that France would send about 1,000 “additional security personnel” to join the 1700 staff already on the ground.
The situation … is still very tense, with looting, riots, arson and assaults that are intolerable and unspeakable,” he said, after meeting President Emmanuel Macron.
Controversial reform
Anger has been simmering for weeks over plans to amend the French constitution to allow people who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years to vote in the territory’s provincial elections, diluting a 1998 accord that limited voting rights.
Many Indigenous Kanak people, who make up about 40 percent of the territory’s nearly 300,000 people, fear the move will undermine their position in the territory.
This week’s violence came as the National Assembly voted in Paris to adopt the measure. A joint sitting of the National Assembly and the Senate needs to be convened for the new rules to take effect because they represent a constitutional change.
New Caledonia, which lies some 1,500km (930 miles) east of Australia, was colonised by France in the 19th century.
The last serious outbreak of unrest in the 1980s led to the 1998 agreement, known as the Noumea Accord, promising greater autonomy as well as three referendums on independence.
