Light on a minority : Kanaky

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Kanaky is located in the subregion of Melanesia in the southwest Pacific. It comprises a main island (Grande Terre), the Loyalty Islands, and several smaller islands. Approximately half the size of Taiwan, it has a land area of 18,575.5 square kilometres (7,172 sq mi). The population was estimated in January 2009 to be 249,000. The capital and largest city of the territory is Nouméa. The currency is the CFP franc.

Since 1986 the United Nations Committee on Decolonization has included New Caledonia on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.

Nouméa, the capital, is also the seat of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (formerly the South Pacific Commission), an international organization.

In July 2010, New Caledonia adopted the Kanak flag, alongside the existing French tricolor, as the dual official flags of the territory. The adoption made New Caledonia one of the few countries or territories in the world with two official national flags. [


Kanaky has been on the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories since 1986. Agitation by the Front de Libération Nationale Kanak Socialiste (FLNKS) for independence began in 1985. The FLNKS (led by the late Jean-Marie Tjibaou, assassinated in 1989) advocated the creation of an independent state of "Kanaky". The troubles culminated in 1988 with a bloody hostage taking in Ouvéa. The unrest led to agreement on increased autonomy in the Matignon Accords of 1988 and the Nouméa Accord of 1998. This Accord describes the devolution  process as "irreversible" and also provides for a local Caledonian citizenship, separate official symbols of kanak identity (such as a "national" flag), as well as mandating a referendum on the contentious issue of independence from the French Republic sometime after 2014.
Kanaky has a unique status between that of an independent country and a normal Overseas department of France.


37.1% of people whose age was 14 or older reported that they could speak (but not necessarily read or write) one of the 28 indigenous Austronesian languages of New Caledonia, whereas 58.7% reported that they had no knowledge of any of these 28 indigenous languages.

The Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (French: Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste, FLNKS) is a militant socialist pro-independence alliance of political parties in New Caledonia. It was founded in 1984  at a congress of various political parties, mainly indigenous but also of disgruntled and progressive New Caledonians of European descent.
The FLNKS ran a common list in the South Province in the 2009 election which obtained 8.82% and 4 seats in the province. The division of the nationalists in the province in 2004 had caused the pro-independence faction not to win any seats.
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