In New Caledonia, Macron Says Priority is a Return to Calm

French President Emmanuel Macron visits the central police station in Noumea, France's Pacific territory of New Caledonia on May 23, 2024. LUDOVIC MARIN/Pool via REUTERS
French President Emmanuel Macron visits the central police station in Noumea, France's Pacific territory of New Caledonia on May 23, 2024. LUDOVIC MARIN/Pool via REUTERS
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In New Caledonia, Macron Says Priority is a Return to Calm

French President Emmanuel Macron visits the central police station in Noumea, France's Pacific territory of New Caledonia on May 23, 2024. LUDOVIC MARIN/Pool via REUTERS
French President Emmanuel Macron visits the central police station in Noumea, France's Pacific territory of New Caledonia on May 23, 2024. LUDOVIC MARIN/Pool via REUTERS

French President Emmanuel Macron pushed Thursday for a lifting of protesters' barricades in riot-hit New Caledonia and pledged that reinforced police forces battling deadly unrest on the Pacific archipelago “will stay as long as necessary.”

Pro-independence Kanak leaders, who a week earlier declined Macron's offer of talks by video, turned out Thursday to greet him in person, bringing them together at a meeting in the capital Nouméa, with rival loyalist leaders who want New Caledonia, which became French in 1853 under Emperor Napoleon III, to remain part of France.

Macron opened the meeting by calling for a minute of silence for the six people killed in shootings during the violence, including two gendarmes, and read out their names. He subsequently urged local leaders to use their clout to help restore order. He said a state of emergency imposed by Paris the previous week to boost police powers could be lifted only if local leaders call for a clearing away of barricades that demonstrators and people trying to protect their neighborhoods have erected in Nouméa and beyond.

“It's a simple phrase and it's best to say because it can have an effect,” Macron said.

Barricades have turned some parts of Nouméa into no-go zones and made traveling around perilous, including for the sick requiring medical treatment and for families fretting about where to find food and water after shops were pillaged and torched. Unrest continued to simmer even as Macron jetted in, despite a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew and more than 1,000 reinforcements for the archipelago's police and gendarmes, now 3,000-strong, the French leader said.

“I will be very clear here. These forces will remain as long as necessary. Even during the Olympic Games and Paralympics," which open in Paris on July 26, Macron said.

At Nouméa's La Tontouta International Airport, used for special evacuation flights for stranded tourists but still closed to commercial services, Macron said on arrival that he wanted "to be alongside the people and see a return to peace, calm and security as soon as possible.”

Macron added that he would discuss the resources needed to repair the damage wrought by days of shootings, arson and other violence that has left at least six dead. The destruction is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of euros (dollars).

“We will discuss questions of economic reconstruction, support and rapid response, and the most delicate political questions, as we talk about the future of New Caledonia,” he said. “By the end of the day, decisions will be taken and announcements will be made.”

When asked by a reporter whether he thought a 12-hour visit was enough, Macron responded: “We will see. I don’t have a limit.”

Accompanied by his defense and interior security ministers, Macron later met police at Noumea’s central police station.
"Thank you for being here, thank you very much," Macron told a uniformed officer, before going into a closed-door meeting.



Israel's Netanyahu Heads to Hungary, Defying ICC Arrest Warrant

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
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Israel's Netanyahu Heads to Hungary, Defying ICC Arrest Warrant

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu begins a four-day visit to Hungary on Thursday, defying an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over allegations of war crimes in Gaza as Israel has expanded its military operation in the enclave.

As a founding member of the ICC, Hungary is theoretically obliged to arrest and hand over anyone subject to a warrant from the court but Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban made clear when he issued the invitation that Hungary would not respect the ruling.

Netanyahu is due to meet Orban ahead of a press conference at around 1000 GMT.

In Budapest, workers were constructing a stage in the Buda Castle on Wednesday, where Orban was scheduled to welcome Netanyahu in a ceremony with military honors on Thursday morning and security forces could be seen near the central Budapest hotel where Netanyahu will be staying, The AP news reported.

The visit will be only the second he has made abroad since the International Criminal Court issued warrants to arrest both him and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant last November, but details of his program have been limited apart from a planned visit to a Holocaust memorial.

He visited Washington in February to meet close ally US President Donald Trump. Neither Israel nor the United States are members of the ICC, with Washington arguing the ICC could be used for politically motivated prosecutions.

Orban invited Netanyahu to visit a day after the ICC issued its arrest warrant over allegations of war crimes in Gaza, where Israel launched an offensive following a devastating attack by thousands of Hamas fighters on the October 7 attack.

Since then, the Israeli campaign has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and devastated the Gaza Strip, triggering protests worldwide and prompting South Africa to launch separate legal action in the International Court of Justice, a different body to the ICC, accusing Israel of genocide.