The World - News from June 24, 1988

France’s new Socialist government, anxious to calm communal violence in its South Pacific territory of New Caledonia, offered an experimental period of self-rule to Melanesian Kanaks in the territory. Premier Michel Rocard, meeting in Paris with the separatist Melanesians and pro-French settlers, outlined proposals for a federation of autonomous provinces that would govern the islands until a new independence referendum in 1998. Last year, the territory’s residents voted to remain French in a referendum boycotted by Melanesians. Recent clashes between separatists, loyalists and security forces have claimed 28 lives in the islands.