 "'Unacceptable': French minister slams Aliyev’s remarks on New Caledonia, skips COP29 in Azerbaijan")
A day after Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev accused France of “crimes” and “human rights violations” in overseas territories including New Caledonia, French Environment Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher termed Aliyev’s remarks as “unacceptable” and decided to skip the COP29 global climate change conference in Baku.
Aliyev accused France of committing “crimes” and “human rights violations” in its overseas territories, including New Caledonia in the South Pacific. The region has seen violent protests over a disputed voting reform, resulting in 13 deaths since May.
“President Aliyev’s words against France and Europe as the COP29 opened in Baku are unacceptable," Radio France Internationale (RFI) quoted Pannier-Runacher as telling the French Senate.
Azerbaijan’s leader was using “the fight against climate change for a shameful personal agenda”, she added.
Later, taking to X, Pannier-Runacher posted: “Azerbaijan is instrumentalising the fight against climate change for its own unworthy personal agenda. These attacks constitute a flagrant violation of the UNFCCC Code of Conduct. They will not go unanswered”.
Les propos tenus contre la France et l’Europe par le président Aliev à l’occasion de l’ouverture de la COP29 sont inacceptables.
— Agnès Pannier-Runacher 🇫🇷🇪🇺 (@AgnesRunacher) November 13, 2024
Les attaques directes contre notre pays, ses institutions et ses territoires, sont injustifiables.
L’Azerbaïdjan instrumentalise la lutte… pic.twitter.com/cRvC3HlYqU
Impact Shorts
More ShortsAlso read: COP29: Island nations worried after Trump victory over America’s support for Paris Agreement
Aliyev earlier accused “President Macron’s regime of killing 13 people and injuring 169 during protests by the Kanak people in New Caledonia.”
The unrest, which erupted in mid-May, was sparked by fears that Paris’s proposed voting reforms would marginalise the indigenous Kanak population, hindering their push for independence.
In response, France deployed thousands of troops and police to the remote archipelago, home to 270,000 people.
Although the new French government scrapped the reform after June’s legislative elections, the violence was severe enough that Prime Minister Michel Barnier announced a delay in local elections until the end of next year.
‘Colonial yoke’
On Wednesday, Aliyev also accused France of keeping the Mediterranean island of Corsica and its distant overseas territories “under a colonial yoke.”
Azerbaijan has hosted pro-independence groups from French overseas territories, seemingly to provoke Paris, which has long supported Armenia, Azerbaijan’s rival.
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 was quoted as saying.
“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”.
Oil and gas ‘a gift of the God’
This comes as Aliyev called oil and gas “a gift of the God” in his opening Cop address on Tuesday.
Pannier-Runacher deemed the Azeri president’s remarks “unworthy of the Cop presidency”.
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.
With inputs from agencies
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
