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New Caledonia is pushing ahead with a referendum on independence from France this weekend, despite concerns that a boycott by pro-independence parties who oppose holding the poll amid the coronavirus pandemic risks an outbreak of violence.

France's decision to hold the last of a series of three votes on Sunday, against the wishes of indigenous Kanaks, has drawn condemnation in neighbouring Pacific islands where sensitivities over colonization are high.

The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), comprised of Vanuatu, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and the major New Caledonian independence party, has called on Pacific island countries not to recognise the result.

The Noumea Accord of 1998, which set out a path for potential independence, agreed three referendums to determine the future of the country. L4N2SV0P2

With the two previous polls, in 2018 and 2020, resulting in a narrowing of the "No" vote from 57% to 53%, Sunday's vote presents the last opportunity for the "Yes" campaign to achieve a simple majority.

Pro-independence groups have accused France of refusing to delay the vote until later in 2022, as allowed under the Accord, to reduce the chance of a "Yes" vote and to placate nationalists ahead of a French presidential election early next year.

Kanak leaders say the pandemic has prevented door-to-door campaigning in villages. They also want to allow for traditional mourning periods - about 300 people, mostly Kanak, have died of COVID-19 since September in a population of around 270,000.

New Caledonia's congress president, Roch Wamytan, a pro-independence leader who signed the peace accord, raised concerns on Thursday at a United Nations committee on decolonization.

Former secretary general of the Pacific Islands Forum, Meg Taylor, wrote with the former leaders of Tuvalu, Kiribati, Palau and the Marshall Islands to French president Emmanuel Macron on Nov. 23, warning of potential violence if the poll went ahead.

Election observers from the United Nations and Pacific Islands Forum have arrived in the capital Noumea, as have 2,000 police from France to maintain order.

The Noumea Accord itself was agreed to help end a decade of conflict that resulted in 80 deaths.

George Hoa’au, the acting director-general of the Melanesian group, said the French were "not good at anti-colonisation."

"They are not good at establishing egalitarian relations with former colonies," Hoa'au told Reuters in a telehone interview. "We must not allow this type of engagement with indigenous people in the 21st century."

Taylor told Reuters that decolonization was a priority for Pacific island nations: "Will it be a legitimate process when people don't attend?"

A spokesman for France's Overseas Minister, Sebastien Lecornu, who is en-route to New Caledonia, said the incidence rate of COVID-19 had been "trending positively for one month."

"We are aware that the date of 12 December is not consensual ... but it is the duty of the State to set it," he said.

INDOPACIFIC FOCUS

Lecornu's spokesman said France would "draw conclusions from this non-participation, which is a very strong message sent by the pro-independence supporters, but this non-participation will not override or cancel the result of the three referendums".

Lecornu has said his office would seek dialogue with all parties the day after the referendum.

However, the leader of New Caledonia's Rassemblement party and former president, Thierry Santa, has said such dialogue is unlikely until after the French presidential election. Santa linked France's decision with renewed attention in Paris on the IndoPacific, and anger that Australia dumped a major French submarine contract. read more

"It's absolutely certain that the ripping up of the submarine contract by Australia and the United States has influenced France's attitude towards New Caledonia," Santa, whose party is anti-independence, told Islandsbusiness.com. (Reuters)

 Japan has found eight new cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, a government spokesperson said on Friday, bringing its total to 12.

All the cases have been found during testing of arrivals at airports. Two of the new cases were close contacts of the first case, a diplomat from Namibia.

Spokesperson Seiji Kihara declined to give further details on the eight passengers, but Nippon Television reported that they were traveling from the United States and parts of Africa.

Japan has banned new foreign entrants to try to keep out Omicron, believed to be the most contagious variant of the new coronavirus so far. (Reuters)

Germany has pledged to admit 25,000 Afghans deemed most at risk following the Taliban takeover in Kabul from about 40,000 such people that European Union states are to accept, according to a letter by a senior EU official.

Germany had a record number of almost 900,000 people seeking refuge on its soil in 2015, most of them coming from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.

In a letter dated Dec. 9 and seen by Reuters on Friday, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson called on member states to make good on all their resettlement promises by the end of 2022.

"Vulnerable people and refugees at risk are awaiting their departure to start a new life in safety and dignity," she said.

As well as the 25,000 refugees that Germany will take in, the Netherlands agreed to admit more than 3,100 Afghans whose life and safety is now seen most at risk. France and Spain will take in 2,500 people, followed by 2,000 who will head to Sweden, according to the document.

Western countries evacuated more than 120,000 Afghans in a hastily arranged airlift in August as the Taliban took over Kabul, bringing a two-decades long U.S.-led military mission to the country to a chaotic end.

But Western troops left behind tens of thousands of Afghans who had advocated for human and women's rights, or worked as journalists or for the former government and are now worry about their fate under the Taliban rule. (Reuters)

 Surging interest in vaping among young New Zealanders may undermine a government crackdown on the tobacco industry and its aim to get people to kick the habit, healthcare and anti-tobacco experts said on Friday.

New Zealand plans to ban young people from ever buying cigarettes in their lifetime in one of the world's toughest crackdowns on the tobacco industry, arguing that other efforts to stamp out smoking were taking too long. read more

The new regulations, however, do not cover vaping, which it said was much less harmful than smoking and can help some people to quit smoking.

"It's fantastic having a generation that is smoke free but there is some concern around the messaging of using vaping to quit smoking, and that vaping is less harmful or without harm," said Letitia Harding, chief executive of the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation (ARFNZ), which campaigns on behalf of people with asthma and other respiratory conditions.

Vaping involves heating a liquid that contains nicotine in what is called an e-cigarette and turning it into a vapour that users inhale. Its long-term health impacts are largely unknown.

A nationwide survey of 19,000 secondary school students last month showed that more than quarter regularly vaped, while about 15% reported smoking regular, combustible cigarettes.

The findings showed a marked increase in vaping over the past two years ago.

The survey by ARFNZ and the Secondary Principals’ Association of NZ, an independent organisation representing head teachers, found young people are picking up high nicotine vapes without ever having smoked a cigarette, and quickly becoming addicted to nicotine.

"We absolutely have a problem of vaping and in 15 years we'll be trying to get these youth out of vapes," Harding said.

New Zealand was late in regulating vaping and is still relatively liberal, allowing up to 60 milligrams of nicotine per millimetre of liquid compared with the EU which has a 20 milligram cap.

Australia said in October that people would no longer be able to buy nicotine vaping products without a prescription.

"Ultimately, tobacco is one of the deadliest substances that people can take and vapes do not have the harms associated with them, and that's why we're taking a risk-proportionate approach to these choices,” Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall said on Thursday while announcing the smoking ban.

VAPING DEMAND

Only some 11.6% of New Zealanders over the age of 15 smoke cigarettes but a falling smoking rate has been closely linked with a rising vaping rate, with about 600 approved vaping retailers to meet the demand.

The World Health Organization said in July that the tobacco industry's sleek marketing is attracting youngsters to e-cigarettes, which can lead to tobacco addiction. read more

Large Tobacco firms were quick to switch to e-cigarettes that offer different flavours and create designs targeting a new generation of users.

Marlboro cigarette maker Philip Morris (PM.N) now sells IQOS, a device that heats up but does not burn packages of ground-up tobacco, to create a nicotine-filled aerosol similar to that produced by e-cigarettes.

British American Tobacco (BATS.L) sells e-cigarettes under the Vuse brand, while Imperial Brands (IMB.L) markets Blu e-cigarettes.

Vaping can be effective for adults who want to quit but it is being targeted at young people, said Associate Professor Collin Tukuitonga, at the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland.

"It's inevitable that people pick up vaping because access to tobacco is becoming really difficult. So there needs to be a planned and considered social media campaign on dangers of vaping," he said. (Reuters)