Photo: RRB
Kanak pro-independence leader Christian TΓ©in arrived back in New Caledonia on Thursday, after spending one and a half year in mainland France, following his arrest in June 2024, at the height of deadly riots in the French Pacific territory.
Soon after landing on a regular flight from Paris, at around 4pm (local time), he was welcomed by a small delegation of family, co-partisans and friends, waving the pro-independence flag of Kanaky.
He did not speak to local media and was almost immediately driven away in a private vehicle to his residence, in the pro-independence stronghold of Saint Louis (near the capital NoumΓ©a).
Later this week, on 6 December 2025, TΓ©in is bound for the North of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, where he is expected to chair an extraordinary meeting of the pro-independence movement FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front) on Saturday in the small town of PonΓ©rihouen (North of the main island).
It will be the first time he will chair an FLNKS meeting in person.
While already serving his initial jail term in the jail of Mulhouse (North-east of France), TΓ©in was elected in absentia president of the FLNKS in August 2024.
Photo: LNC
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