But local communities are concerned

Nic Maclellan

NOVEMBER 2009

In 1898, as the United States expanded across the Pacific seeking naval bases in Hawai’i and Guam, the US Navy monitored the military forces of other colonial powers in the Pacific.
The New York Times edition of Novembe 26, 1898 carried a report headlined ‘French naval base in the Pacific’.
“The French government has decided to make Noumea, capital of the French colony of New Caledonia, its naval headquarters in the Pacific. A large dock and naval works will be based there.”
One hundred and ten years later, following a Defence White Paper, French authorities have reaffirmed the choice of Noumea as the regional base for France’s military operations in the Pacific.
Defence white paper
At the same time, Australia and France are negotiating an agreement to use each other’s military facilities in the region as part of a broader Defence Co-operation Agreement which came into force in July.
After his election in 2007, French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for a Defence White Paper to study priorities for France’s global military network.
The 2008 White Paper paid little attention to the Pacific region, but noted there will be reductions of personnel in France’s overseas dependencies: “military forces in French Polynesia, the West Indies and New Caledonia will be reduced and rationalised.”
According to French military officials, most of the cuts in the Pacific will affect French Polynesia rather than New Caledonia, as Paris closes down the bases used for nuclear testing in past decades.
Last year, France’s top military officer in New Caledonia General Martial de Braquilanges said: “While some heavy blows will fall on French Polynesia and the French Antilles, New Caledonia will be relatively spared from the cuts, first at the level of its operational capacity and then at the level of numbers of troops.”
French military personnel in New Caledonia—the Forces armées de Nouvelle-Calédonie (FANC)—currently number about 3000.Under the Defence White Paper, New Caledonia could see a 15 to 20 percent reduction in these numbers over the next three years.
While there will still be some forces in French Polynesia in the coming years, including planes and ships to monitor its 5-million square kilometre Exclusive Economic Zone, most of France’s military assets in the Pacific will be based in New Caledonia after 2011.
Concern from FLNKS
When he visited Noumea in September 2008, French Defence Minister Hervé Morin stressed that this increases, rather than weaken New Caledonia’s strategic importance for France.
“We have decided to make New Caledonia the base for the defence of the Pacific because we have a number of high quality facilities here and we are undertaking an extremely important military co-operation with Australia.
“It’s therefore here in New Caledonia that certain key functions will be maintained and from here, a number of intervention forces could be deployed, for example if French Polynesia had a need for extra military units. New Caledonia will therefore lose some 100-150 personnel, but will serve as our military base in the Pacific.” Currently France maintains a number of military facilities in New Caledonia, including:
• The new Alleyron headquarters at Pointe Artillerie, opened in October 2008, which provides the command and operational headquarters for FANC
• The Nandai military base at Plum for the RIMAP infantry regiment.
• The Gally-Passebosc barracks in Noumea.
• The Pointe Chaleix naval base, which hosts the French Navy’s small naval contingent.
• The Air Force base at Tontouta, with the ETOM overseas transport squadron, helicopters and the air wing of the gendarmerie police.
New Caledonia’s government has no say over defence policy and the relocation of military forces from Papeete to Noumea.
Under the 1998 Noumea Accord, control of defence and foreign policy remains with the French state until the referendum on New Caledonia’s future political status. Scheduled to be held after 2014, this referendum will decide whether Paris will cede these “sovereign powers” to the government and people of New Caledonia.
France’s new armed forces commander in Noumea has suggested that the military aims to be present in New Caledonia for the long run. In an interview after taking office in August, Brigadier General Olivier Tramond told Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes: “Looking out to 2020, New Caledonia has been called on to act as a support base in the Pacific. Even if the defence infrastructure has been reduced, it will be maintained.”
Some members of the Front de Libération Nationale Kanak at Socialiste (FLNKS) are concerned that decisions taken about France’s military presence in New Caledonia will impact on the decision about the territory’s future political status.

‘It’s like we’re being entangled in a net’ Roch Wamytan spoke to ISLANDS BUSINESS from Noumea about France’s military programmes in the Pacific and France-Australia defence co-operation. Extracts from the interview: How do you react to the French Defence White Paper plans for New Caledonia as a regional base for military activities in the Pacific? “Personally, there are two key reasons why I’m fundamentally opposed to current French policy. The first is that New Caledonia is in a process of decolonisation. In line with United Nations decolonisation resolutions, France as the administering power has no right to establish military bases in its territories. These actions are to the detriment of the future emancipation of New Caledonia. “On the one hand, France is showing positive signs, accompanying us on our path to a new future. On the other hand, France is talking about making New Caledonia a regional base for its military. It’s like we’re being entangled in a net and we'll find it hard to get out, if we want to in the future. “My second concern is that a country on the path to emancipation should not be used as a platform, as a Trojan horse, for French policy in the Pacific region.” Does New Caledonia have any say in this? Under the Noumea Accord, defence and foreign policy are retained by the French government until the proposed referendum after 2014. “Our main problem is that defence policy is a sovereign power that comes under the authority of the French State, not the Government of New Caledonia. But the French State is currently making serious decisions that will last five, 10, 20 years into the future. Above all, the French state has never involved us, absolutely never, in discussions on these military matters—not even as members of the Committee of Signatories for the Noumea Accord.” Have you had any contact with the Australian government over increasing Australia-France defence co-operation, which could see Australian forces expanding their use of French facilities in New Caledonia? “Australia and New Zealand have long supported us on our path to emancipation. So I’m really astonished that Australia and New Zealand are engaged in this without even talking to us.”

In an interview with ISLANDS BUSINESS, the leader of the FLNKS group in New Caledonia’s Congress, Roch Wamytan, said he was “fundamentally opposed” to France’s military plans for New Caledonia (see box on page 27). He also said he was “astonished” that Australia was negotiating new military agreements with France without consulting local authorities in Noumea.
Co-operation with Australia
Visiting Australia last year, French Defence Minister Morin stressed the importance of New Caledonia for France’s military co-operation with Australia.
“France is in the process of restructuring its defence capabilities and we have decided that New Caledonia will become a major presence and major base in the Pacific. We decided to do this because New Caledonia is close to Australia and for us this base in New Caledonia will be the means through which we will grow our cooperation with Australia.”
For many years, Australia and France have maintained programmes of defence co-operation in the Pacific through training, officer exchanges and joint military exercises (like the Southern Cross exercises held every two years in New Caledonia, which also involve troops from Pacific Islands Forum countries like New Zealand, Tonga and Papua New Guinea). Since it was signed in 1992, the France-Australia-New Zealand (FRANZ) agreement has aided joint military co-operation in the South Pacific for humanitarian and maritime surveillance operations.
This defence co-operation is now expanded under a new treaty, which entered into force in July 2009. The agreement between Australia and France regarding Defence Cooperation and Status of Forces is Australia’s first Defence Co-operation Agreement (DCA) with a European country, and provides a legal framework for ongoing military co-operation between the two countries.
Under the DCA, both countries have agreed to provide logistics support between their defence forces in the Pacific. Australia and France are currently negotiating a Mutual Logistics Support Arrangement (MLSA), which will guarantee financial arrangements when Australian forces use military installations in New Caledonia and the French military access Australian bases or conduct joint operations. Under the DCA, Canberra can also share intelligence information with the French military, such as the geospatial mapping of Pacific islands countries undertaken by Australia’s Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation (DIGO).
In response to questions on the current progress of negotiations for the MLSA agreement, the Australian Department of Defence declined to give any detail.
A Defence spokesperson told ISLANDS BUSINESS: “Negotiations are going well and we expect an outcome by the end of the year.”