A/42/PV.31 General Assembly

I call on the representative of France, who wishes to speak in exercise of the right of reply. May I remind members that, in accordance with General Assembly decision 34/401, statements in exeroise of the right of reply are limited to 10 minutes for the first intervention and to five for the second and should be made by delegations from their seat. Mr. BLANC (France) (interpretation from French): For 48 hours, from the podium we have heard representatives from the South Pacific. We understand the position of those countries on New Caledonia, although it is a FrenCh territory. We are also aware of the obstinacy with which a future is being imposed upon the inhabitants of New Caledonia, where the majority has shown that it is not what they want. As the representative of France, I naturally listened to the statehlents made by the countries of the Forum with a great deal of attention. I took note of contradictions in them. All of them criticized the referendum on self-determination of 13 September through which, in a dignified and calm atmosphere, a clear majority of New Caledonians chose to remain within the French republic. But for those who may have second thoughts about the rights of the l ' o j~ I IM ~ r Yesterday, to the contrary, the representative of New Zealand, in exercise of the right of reply claimed the right of self-determination for all New Caledonians and insisted on that phrase "all New Caledonians". Today, the representative of Solomon Islands spoke of the right of I self-determination and independence of the Kanak people. That means that the right ' of self-determination in New Caledonia should be defended only for the t:Jopulation of Melanesian origin? We would like to know the precise position of the countries of the Forum on that question. Recent developments in the region point to the importance of this. Do the Forum countries wish to challenge the principle of one man one vote, or one woman one vote, to which France is committed and which it applied on 13 September last for the referendum'? With regard to the remarks made on nuclear tests, I shall simply refer the Assembly to my position expressed yesterday evening in replying to the representative of Papua New Guinea. The meeting rose at 6.20 p.m. (Mr. Blanc, France)