Civil war averted in French Pacific territory

The king of a South Pacific island yesterday swallowed his pride and brought his kingdom back from the brink after a drink-driving sentence handed down against his playboy grandson nearly led to civil war.

King Tomasi Kulimoetoke of Wallis - the head of one of three royal families in the French territory of Wallis and Futuna - reaffirmed his allegiance to Paris, ending a dispute over whether customary law or French legislation should prevail.

But in a move that threatened to increase the bitterness between the king and the island's French-appointed governor, the 86-year-old monarch added: "Our proclamation of loyalty to the state (of France) in no way implies our feudal subservience nor our intention to abandon customary law."

The king repeated his call for the removal of the governor, Prefect Xavier de Furst who is appointed by the French president and effectively rules the 16,000 inhabitants of Wallis, Futuna, Alofi and 20 islets in the archipelago.

The row erupted after King Tomasi objected to an 18-month manslaughter sentence handed down in February by the local court against his grandson, Tomasi Tuugahala, following a road accident on New Year's eve.

The king invited his grandson to hide from gendarmes in the royal palace. The prince spent four months there until he gave himself up on 7 June and was flown to the nearest jail, in New Caledonia.

One man was seriously injured when riots erupted the following week between supporters of the traditionalist King Tomasi and a group who want him replaced by a grand chief more amenable to French ways.

The previous month, the king's opponents staged ostentatious traditional ceremonies to send the message that they wanted him to go.

King Tomasi, whose formal title is The Lavelua, has ruled the three districts of Wallis since 1959 when the archipelago voted to remain a French territory.

Wallis and Futuna, where most people are subsistence farmers who survive thanks to European Union grants and money sent back by migrant workers, became a French protectorate in 1842.

Mr De Furst heads the government which consists of a cabinet of the archipelago's three kings and a further three members appointed by him.

Yesterday, Mr De Furst did not react to the king's pledge of allegiance but government sources in Paris reacted with caution, suggesting King Tomasi was buying time for domestic reasons.

There is no suggestion that the inhabitants of Wallis and Futuna wish to leave France.

In common with almost all French overseas territories and departements, the archipelago supported the European constitution in the referendum on 29 May.

The margin in Wallis and Futuna was especially high - 89.6 per cent in favour.

But relations between Mr De Furst and the monarch of Wallis have remained tense since the middle of May when King Tomasi first called for the removal of the French prefect and the local Paris-appointed judge.

As a consequence, Mr De Furst froze the king's financial allowance and the salaries of his ministers.

Mr De Furst's deputy, Jean-Marie Oustry, told the French news agency, AFP: "On one hand there are the modernists, who are the majority and who wish to bring Wallis and Futuna up to date. Even though Wallis and Futuna is Catholic and subject to French law like any other part of France, it is a very traditional society.

"The king's entourage is extremely traditionalist. For us, it is a very complicated situation because each side wants recognition but it has to be down to the Wallisians to decide," he said.

- INDEPENDENT