BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 10. On February 3, 2025, the FLNKS (Front de libération nationale kanak socialiste), the leading coalition of supporters of Kanak independence (New Caledonia), presented to the public a document entitled “The Kanak Agreement,” demanding complete independence for the Kanaks from France, Trend reports via the Baku Initiative Group (BIG).
The document states that the “Kanak Agreement,” prepared on the initiative of France and aimed at preserving the political future of the Kanaks within the framework of the long-standing colonial status quo, is a political response to criticism of France's restriction of the Kanaks' right to self-determination and expresses an open and principled position against the preservation of the colonial model of governance and institutional dependence that has existed in the Kanaks for many years.
The Kanak Agreement was adopted on April 26, 2025, at a congress organized by the FLNKS in Kanaka. During this congress, the leader of the movement, Christian Téin, who is imprisoned in France, drew the attention of participants to the fact that the definition of independence should be based only on a specific date and a clear political plan.
The agreement provides for the formation of the future state of Kanaka as a secular, democratic, and sovereign republic. The document includes a procedure for the preparation of a constitutional act and its approval by referendum, and also provides for the preservation of existing institutions as a temporary governance mechanism during the transition period. The FLNKS believes that until France accepts an irreversible process leading to Kanak independence by 2027, dialogues and political mechanisms carried out through existing institutions cannot serve as a real solution. This document, which is a political response to the Bougival Agreement prepared at France's initiative, emphasizes the need to change the colonial status quo that has persisted in Kanaka for many years.
Note: The Bougival Agreement served to continue French colonial rule in Kanaka on the terms of “renewed status,” “broad autonomy,” and similar concepts. The Kanaka Agreement explicitly states that its main goal is to abolish the existing status quo and achieve full political sovereignty for the Kanaka people. While the Bougival Agreement made independence an indefinite and long-term political process with no prospects, the Kanaka Agreement requires a specific date, an irreversible action plan, and guarantees at the international level, especially within the UN. For the first time, the document explicitly states that relations between France and Kanaka can be established as between two equal sovereign states after independence. Concepts such as autonomy and joint sovereignty are firmly rejected as forms of neocolonialism.