France Foreign Relations New Caledonia

French Premier Michel Rocard, on the second day of a three-day visit to New Caledonia, urged Melanesian separatists and European settlers to seize his initiative for peace in the South Pacific islands and rebuild their future. Speaking in the capital of Noumea, Rocard appeared unfazed by a crowd of pro-independence Melanesians waving the multicolored flags of the nation they have sought to create since 1984.

French voters Sunday approved a 10-year peace plan for the South Pacific territory of New Caledonia, where white settlers and Melanesian separatists have been involved in a bloody ethnic conflict since 1984. Opposition political leaders charged that the record-low turnout for the referendum, which grants limited autonomy to the archipelago until a vote for independence scheduled for 1998, was a "slap in the face" to the Socialist government of Premier Michel Rocard.

Anti-independence parties in this French South Pacific territory won an overwhelming majority in elections Sunday for a new regional Parliament that were marred by ethnic violence. In Paris, French officials said that 11 of 27 paramilitary gendarmes taken hostage Friday in a bloody attack on a police station on the island of Ouvea have been released unharmed.

French Premier Michel Rocard, on the second day of a three-day visit to New Caledonia, urged Melanesian separatists and European settlers to seize his initiative for peace in the South Pacific islands and rebuild their future. Speaking in the capital of Noumea, Rocard appeared unfazed by a crowd of pro-independence Melanesians waving the multicolored flags of the nation they have sought to create since 1984.

French security forces wearing flak vests and armed with automatic rifles took up positions on street corners Tuesday after French loyalists vowed to retaliate against Melanesian separatists in this troubled South Pacific island territory. " Violence ou valise ," declared conservative loyalist leader Justin Guillemard, suggesting that the loyalist majority must either meet the recent wave of separatist violence with violence or pack their bags and leave.

The Soviet Union is taking advantage of a complex of economic, colonial and nuclear issues, including the tendency of U.S. tuna fishermen to thumb their noses at local peoples, to penetrate deeper than ever before into an area of the globe that the United States has long thought of as its own: the South Pacific. Last year, for example, the Soviets bought licenses to fish off Kiribati, the former Gilbert Islands, whose capital, Tarawa, was captured by U.S.

French security forces freed 23 French hostages in an assault on a remote jungle cave today after a 14-day drama that threw this South Pacific island territory into one of its worst political crises, government officials announced here.

For the past 11 days and nights, the young Melanesian rebel leader holding 23 French hostages in a cave has not let go of his ax. It is the same ax, French authorities say, that was used to hack three French gendarmes to death when the hostages were seized. Of that, authorities say they are certain, because the young Melanesian has refused to wipe the gendarmes' blood from the ax blade. The blood apparently serves as inspiration for the kidnapers, who the French charge have "the madness of God."

French voters Sunday approved a 10-year peace plan for the South Pacific territory of New Caledonia, where white settlers and Melanesian separatists have been involved in a bloody ethnic conflict since 1984. Opposition political leaders charged that the record-low turnout for the referendum, which grants limited autonomy to the archipelago until a vote for independence scheduled for 1998, was a "slap in the face" to the Socialist government of Premier Michel Rocard.

Leaders of the whites and Melanesians of New Caledonia, intractable enemies only a few weeks ago, signed an agreement in Paris on Sunday designed to restore peace to the troubled French archipelago in the South Pacific.

The cave where separatist Melanesian tribesmen took 23 French hostages at gunpoint 12 days ago is a sacred place, where each leaf has a special meaning, where not even the tribe's women are allowed to enter, where warriors killed a century ago lie buried. And as one of the world's most bizarre and remote hostage dramas ended Thursday, the cave once again became a place of war--and of death.

French security forces freed 23 French hostages in an assault on a remote jungle cave today after a 14-day drama that threw this South Pacific island territory into one of its worst political crises, government officials announced here.

French security forces wearing flak vests and armed with automatic rifles took up positions on street corners Tuesday after French loyalists vowed to retaliate against Melanesian separatists in this troubled South Pacific island territory. " Violence ou valise ," declared conservative loyalist leader Justin Guillemard, suggesting that the loyalist majority must either meet the recent wave of separatist violence with violence or pack their bags and leave.