Pacific leaders delay visit to troubled New Caledonia

FILE PHOTO: A view shows a police vehicle, damaged during recent riots, during a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron at the central police station in Noumea, France's Pacific territory of New Caledonia on May 23, 2024. LUDOVIC MARIN/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

(Reuters) - Pacific Islands leaders postponed a visit to French territory New Caledonia to assess civil unrest between indigenous Kanaks and French loyalists, the regional bloc's chairman and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown said on Wednesday.

A delegation of three leaders, including Brown and Fiji's prime minister, had hoped to travel to New Caledonia and report back to a Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting next week.