Overview

• The reforms would have extended voting rights to long-term non-Indigenous residents, sparking fears of marginalization among Indigenous Kanaks.
• Nine people died in the worst violence the archipelago has seen in decades, prompting a state of emergency and troop reinforcements.
• Macron's decision coincides with the dissolution of the French National Assembly and upcoming snap elections.
• Local leaders and pro-independence movements had already considered the reforms effectively dead due to the political turmoil.
• The French government has extended a curfew in New Caledonia and urged the removal of barricades to return to peace.