Éloi Machoro (January 1949 – 12 January 1985) was a

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

Kanak The Kanaks ( French spelling until 1984: Canaque) are the indigenous Melanesian inhabitants of New Caledonia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southwest Pacific. Kanak peoples traditionally speak diverse Austronesian languages that ...

separatist Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, regional, governmental, or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seekin ...

politician.

Career

Machoro was born in Nakety in January 1949.Machoro: last word from a leftist
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', pp27–28 He held several jobs, including clerk, farm worker, miner and a teacher in a primary school. After being elected assistant general secretary of the

Caledonian Union The Caledonian Union (, UC) is a pro-independence and the oldest political party in New Caledonia. In the latest legislative elections of May 10, 2009, the party won around 11.65% of the popular vote, and 9 out of 54 seats in the Territorial Co ...

in 1977, he contested the East constituency in the elections that year and was elected to the Territorial Assembly, and was re-elected in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

when the party ran as part of the Independence Front. Following the assassination of Pierre Declercq on 19 September 1981, Machoro became the party's general secretary. He and other

militants went to

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

. The

Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front The Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (, FLNKS) is a pro-independence alliance of political parties in New Caledonia. It was founded in 1984 at a congress of various political parties. Its supporters are mostly from the Kanak indig ...

(FLNKS) was formed in September 1984 as a replacement for the Independence Front, boycotting the elections in November. On 1 December

Jean-Marie Tjibaou Jean-Marie Tjibaou (; January 30, 1936 – May 4, 1989) was a French politician in New Caledonia and leader of the Kanak independence movement. The son of a tribal chief, Tjibaou was ordained a Catholic priest but abandoned his religious vocati ...

declared the formation of a provisional government of Kanak Socialist Republic, with Machoro as Minister of Security. As a result, he became the leader of the independents' armed forces. He disarmed the

gendarmes A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to "men-at-arms" (). In France and som ...

of Thio, and gained control over the village without violence. On 11 January 1985 Yves Tual, the son of a European stockbreeder, was killed by independentist militants at La Foa. These events triggered a series of nighttime rebellions. On 12 January, the gendarmes started an operation to free the house of a European in

Canala Canala () is a commune in the North Province of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from ...

that the FLNKS had occupied under the leadership of Machoro. The FLNKS occupants eventually fled to a farmhouse near

La Foa La Foa () is a commune in the South Province of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. Although the provincial seat of the South Province is in Nouméa, La Foa was made the chief town of the administrative subdivis ...

. The gendarmerie endured multiple rounds of gunfire and eventually launched an assault after several warnings. The order was given to neutralize Éloi Machoro and another Kanak, Marcel Nonnaro. According to the gendarmerie, Machoro was shot in the shoulder; and the gendarmes attempted to keep him alive, but he would succumb to his injuries about thirty minutes later, on the way to the hospital. In a version told by a fellow FLNKS member, Machoro, who did not die directly after being shot, was already gone when the gendarmes took the farm over.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Machoro, Eloi 1949 births 1985 deaths Kanak people New Caledonian educators Caledonian Union politicians Members of the Congress of New Caledonia People from South Province, New Caledonia