The Kamboa Ouetcho clan of the customary area of Djubea-Kapone, within which the city of Nouméa is located, has performed a custom ceremony to give a hectare of land to the Vanuatu community in New Caledonia.
The ceremony was performed on Saturday 4th May, the 35th anniversary of the assassination of the Kanak leaders Jean-Marie Tjibaou and Yeiwéné Yeiwéné in 1989.
The communities of French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna, Europe, Asia-India, Africa and Vanuatu were each given roughly one hectare of land as part of a 10 hectare “Espace Coutumier et Culturel Océanien” at Kota Bore, just north of Nouméa near Paita.
This is the first time ever that the Vanuatu community has been given land in New Caledonia by the indigenous Kanak community, and the Vanuatu community showed up in force to receive the land and perform a custom ceremony of gratitude in return.
The ceremony was attended and witnessed by the leaders of the Vanuatu community in New Caledonia, led by Vanuatu’s Consul General in New Caledonia, Alain Mahe, and by a delegation from Vanuatu comprising Vanuatu’s Minister of Climate Change Ralph Regenvanu, Chief Mehrimba Dangdang Paul Robert Ravun, President of the Malvatumauri National Council of Chiefs, Chief Theodore David Thamana, President of the Port Vila Town Council of Chiefs, and Mr. Jean Pierre Tom, Chief Executive Officer of the Malvatumauri.
Chief Ravun, President of the Malvatumauri National Council of Chiefs, spoke on behalf of the Vanuatu community to thank the Kamboa Ouetcho clan for the gift of the land, and Joey Kalsakau, newly-installed Chairman of the Council of Chiefs of the Vanuatu community in New Caledonia performed a pig-killing as part of the custom ‘thank you’ ceremony.
