Photo: AFP / Pool / Ludovic Marin
New Caledonia's pro-independence FLNKS group has put in a late request to join talks on the territory's future remotely.
The meeting, convened by French President Emmanuel Macron, is calling all politicians from the French Pacific territory back to the negotiating table.
The FLNKS said earlier this week it will not travel to Paris for the "make or break" roundtable.
However, as the meeting approached, FLNKS officials advised that they had also made a last-minute proposal to the French President's office: that, instead of travelling to Paris, they could take part in the talks, remotely, by way of videoconference.
The offer was conveyed in a letter to the President, FLNKS official and Union CalΓ©donienne secretary general Dominique Fochi confirmed to public broadcaster Nouvelle-CalΓ©donie la 1Γ¨re on Thursday.
But even though Macron's advisors acknowledged receipt of the FLNKS message, it is not known whether he would finally entertain the last-minute request.
"We treated FLNKS fairly, just like the other political groups", one of Macron's advisors said, adding that "even in the visible absence of FLNKS" they believe it is "still worth moving forward".
During question time in Parliament, on Wednesday, in Paris, Minister for
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