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Australia seeks to evacuate about 300 citizens from New Caledonia
Australia's prime minister said on Thursday the situation in New Caledonia was "very concerning", as Australia tries to evacuate its citizens from the French territory after a week of unrest.
© Lusa
Mundo Nova Caledónia
The prime minister said Canberra had identified 300 Australians who had expressed a desire to leave New Caledonia, where all flights have been suspended since Tuesday.
Australia and New Zealand have over the weekend sought permission from authorities in the archipelago to send planes to repatriate their citizens.
"The Australian Defence Force is certainly ready to go... The situation on the ground is preventing flights at the moment, but we continue to seek that clearance," Albanese said.
Two Australian tourists, Maxwell and Tiffany Winchester, told AFP they had been confined to their resort halfway between the capital Noumea and the airport since Tuesday, when they were due to fly out of New Caledonia.
"We are very close to running out of food," Maxwell Winchester said, adding that "the hotel staff are having to go to the black market to try and get some supplies".
He described roadblocks preventing deliveries and nights punctuated by fires and the sound of clashes.
New Caledonia has been gripped by unrest that has left five people dead, after the French parliament adopted a bill that would allow French residents who have lived in the archipelago for at least a decade to vote in local elections.
Local political leaders, including pro-independence figures, fear the move will dilute the power of the indigenous Kanak people.
The French state's representative in New Caledonia, Louis Le Franc, on Monday hailed the success of an operation to retake control of a key road linking the overseas territory's capital to the airport.
"This operation was a success with 76 barricades neutralised thanks to the mobilisation of internal security forces, private companies and the material resources deployed on the ground," he said.
Le Franc said "nearly 240 demonstrators" had been arrested since the unrest began.
French authorities said late Saturday they were sending an additional 600 security force personnel to New Caledonia, which is already home to more than 2,700.
Le Franc said Monday morning had been "marked by a huge fire and looting", without giving further details.
French President Emmanuel Macron has called a new meeting of his defence and national security council for 6:30 pm (1730 GMT) in Paris on Monday.
Also Read: New Caledonia: France to send 600 more security forces (in Portuguese)
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