TheNouméa Accord (French:Accord de Nouméa) of 1998 is a promise by theFrench Republic to grant increased political power toNew Caledonia and its indigenous population, theKanaks, over a twenty-year transition period. It was signed 5 May 1998 byLionel Jospin, and approved ina referendum in New Caledonia on 8 November, with 72% voting in favour. Under the accord, three more referendum votes, on whether to remain aspecial collectivity of France or become an independent state, have been held.

The first referendumwas held in 2018, and the secondwas held in 2020. In both votes, a majority chose to remain French. The Nouméa Accord permitted afinal referendum to be held, voted for by theCongress of New Caledonia. It was held December 2021 and widely rejected independence amid boycott by the independence movement.^[1][2]

Named after New Caledonia's capital and largest city, theNouméa Accord was the second accord, following theMatignon Agreements (1988). Under the Nouméa Accord, France continues to control themilitary,foreign policy,immigration,police, andcurrency.

Under the conditions of the agreement, theVice President of New Caledonia must be a pro-independence politician if thePresidency is held by an anti-independence politician.^[3][4]

The following people signed the Nouméa Accord on 5 May 1998:

• on behalf of theFrench Republic:
  • Lionel Jospin,Prime Minister, the negotiations having been conducted on his behalf by his interior counselor Alain Christnacht,
  • Jean-Jack Queyranne,secretary of state of Overseas Affairs to the Minister of the Interior, the negotiations having been conducted on his behalf by his chief of staff Thierry Lataste.
• on behalf of theRally for Caledonia in the Republic (RPCR, anti-independence party) :
  • Jacques Lafleur, president ofRPCR, President of the South Province Assembly and representative for the 1st electoral division of New Caledonia,
  • Pierre Frogier, representative for the 2nd electoral division, 1st Vice President of theSouth Province Assembly and mayor ofMont-Dore,
  • Simon Loueckhote, Senator from New Caledonia and elected from the Assembly of theLoyalty Islands Province andCongress of New Caledonia as well as being municipal councillor forOuvéa,
  • Harold Martin, President of theTerritorial Congress, elected from theSouth Province Assembly and mayor ofPaïta,
  • Jean Lèques, mayor ofNouméa, elected from theSouth Province Assembly andCongress,
  • Bernard Deladrière,Jacques Lafleur's chief of staff.
• on behalf of theKanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS, pro-independence):
  • Rock Wamytan, unitary president ofFLNKS, member of theCaledonian Union (UC) part, Grand Chief of theSaint-Louis tribe and of the Pont-des-Français district, elected from theSouth Province Assembly andCongress,
  • Paul Néaoutyine, chief of theParty of Kanak Liberation (Palika) and theNational Union for Independence (UNI) elected from theNorth Province Assembly andCongress as well as mayor ofPoindimié
  • Charles Pidjot, member of theUC, nephew of former deputyRock Pidjot,
  • Victor Tutugoro, spokesman for theMelanesian Progressive Union (UPM)

A popular consultation for approval was organized inNew Caledonia on Sunday, 8 November 1998.

The local political class was divided on the question of the agreement.

The following political figures and parties called for a "yes" vote:

• Two main signatories: Jacques Lafleur's RPCR (which focuses on "at least 20 years of peace and stability" and a "future in the Republic") and Rock Wamytan's FLNKS (on behalf of the general interest of the country and future generations "),
• Two independentist movements, of moderate tradition, represented in the institutions: the Socialist Kanak Liberation Party (LKS) of Nidoïsh Naisseline ("the future of our country is at stake") and the Federation of Committees Coordinating Independents (FCCI) ofRaphaël Mapou, Leopold Jorédié and François Burck ("yes to the long march of the men and women of this country, the yes to our common history so that it does not stop").
• The mayors ofBourail andDumbéa, respectively Jean-Pierre Aïfa and Bernard Marant, long-time opponents of the RPCR.
• Delin Wema, a formerKanak RPCR executive in theNorth Province who became one of the leading figures in a new party, Developing Together to Build the Future (DECA),.
• Thierry Valet and Jean-Claude Legras, two members ofCongress fromUne Nouvelle-Calédonie pour tous (UNCT, an organization created by dissidents from RPCR that subsequently became the principal opposition toJacques Lafleur within the anti-independence camp) put themselves at odds with the official position of their movement (for them, the "Yes... reconciles at the same time the respect of the others, of their culture, their way of life and the necessary mobilization of all energies to develop the economy of New Caledonia to guarantee social progress and full employment").

The "no" side featured:

• Two main moderate anti-independence parties in opposition to RPCR: Dider Leroux'sUNCT, which saw agreement as paving the way for a "banana republic", reinforcing the hegemony of the RPCR over local political life and DECA, led byKoumac Mayor Robert Frouin, who presented the text as a "deceit" and a "Spanish farm where everyone finds what he wants to find" and highlighted the differences of interpretation between the interpretations of the RPCR and the FLNKS.
• Right-wing RPCR members who opposed autonomy. Guy George's local section of theNational Front (FN) as Guy George ("I urge you to refuse abandonment and vote no") and Claude Sarran'sMovement for France (MPF) (denouncing a "collusion agreement" between "the socialist government to get rid of New Caledonia, the RPCR to extend its political-financial hegemony through transfers of powers and the FLNKS to satisfy its desire for independence"), as well as former RPCRDick Ukeiwé,
• FLNKS,Louis Kotra Uregi'sUnion syndicale des travailleurs kanaks et des exploités (USTKE), which wanted immediate independence.

Approuvez-vous l'Accord sur laNouvelle-Calédonie signé àNouméa le 5 Mai 1998?

"Do you approve of the New Caledonia Agreement signed in Noumea on 5 May 1998?"

— The referendum question

Source :Décision du 9 novembre 1998 proclamant les résultats de la consultation des populations de la Nouvelle-Calédonie du dimanche 8 novembre 1998

• Ouvéa cave hostage taking

• Carine David, Victor David. 2020. "New Caledonia." inGems of the Pacific.

• Details of the accord(in French)
• Nouméa Accord(in English)