French minister to shun COP29 after jabs from Azerbaijan

French minister to shun COP29 after jabs from Azerbaijan
by AFP Staff Writers
Paris (AFP) Nov 13, 2024

France's Environment Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher will stay away from the COP29 global climate change conference in Baku after "unacceptable" attacks by Azerbaijan's president Ilham Aliyev, she said Wednesday.

Aliyev had accused France of "crimes" and "human rights violations" in overseas territories including New Caledonia in the south Pacific, where 13 people have been killed this year in protests that broke out in May over a contested voting reform.

"President Aliyev's words against France and Europe as the COP29 opened in Baku are unacceptable," Pannier-Runacher told the French Senate (upper house).

Azerbaijan's leader was using "the fight against climate change for a shameful personal agenda," she added.

Aliyev had earlier charged that "the regime of President (Emmanuel) Macron killed 13 people and wounded 169... during legitimate protests by the Kanak people in New Caledonia".

- 'Colonial yoke' -

Violence broke out in mid-May in New Caledonia, northeast of Australia, over Paris's plan for voting reforms that indigenous Kanak people fear would leave them in a permanent minority, crushing their chances of winning independence.

France sent thousands of troops and police to the archipelago, which is home to around 270,000 people and located nearly 17,000 kilometres (10,600 miles) from Paris.

The reform has been abandoned by a new government since Macron called new legislative elections in June.

But the extent of the violence and damage was such that Prime Minister Michel Barnier last month announced the postponement of the territory's local polls until the end of 2025.

Aliyev on Wednesday accused France of holding Mediterranean island Corsica and Paris's far-flung overseas island territories "under the colonial yoke".

Azerbaijan has played host to a group of pro-independence movements from French overseas territories in an apparent bid to needle Paris, which has long supported Baku's arch-rival Armenia.

Aliyev's latest attacks were "a flagrant violation of the code of conduct" that usually prevails at the landmark UN climate change conferences, Pannier-Runacher said.

"Direct attacks on our country, its institutions and its territories cannot be justified," she added -- also taking aim at "Azerbaijan's words in favour of fossil energy".

- 'Highest ambition' -

Aliyev had on Tuesday called oil and gas "a gift of the God" in his COP opening address.

The Azerbaijani president's remarks were "unworthy of the COP presidency", Pannier-Runacher said.

She hoped instead to spotlight a "positive dynamic" at the conference in petrostate Azerbaijan, where Brazil and Britain announced new emissions targets.

While Macron and Barnier backed Pannier-Runacher in not personally attending, "France's negotiating teams will spare no effort, with my support from a distance... to protect the planet and our populations," she added.

"We will continue to argue for the highest level of ambition in implementing the Paris Accord" of 2015, Pannier-Runacher said.