Emmanuel Macron, the first French president to visit the Marquesas
Audio 01:19
French President Emmanuel Macron and the mayor of Hiva Oa, Joëlle Frebault during a welcome ceremony, in Hiva Oa, French Polynesia, July 25, 2021. AFP - LUDOVIC MARIN
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
On the second day of his visit to French Polynesia, the Head of State left 1,400 kilometers from Tahiti to reach Hiva Oa, on one of the six Marquesas Islands.
This is the first time that a French president has set foot there.
The population honored him with a dance performance.
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With our special correspondent at Hiva Oa,
Julien Chavanne
It is escorted by six horses that
Emmanuel Macron
arrived in the stadium of Hiva Oa, one of the six islands of the Marquesas.
Between 2,000 and 3,000 people were waiting for it, about a third of the Marquesan population.
Nearly 400 dancers dressed in loincloths in Augusti leaves offered him the mavé mai, the Marquesan welcome dance.
A president on conquered ground: “
Welcome to our region, welcome to the land of men and welcome to you,
” the mayor of Hiva Oa, Joëlle Frebault, told him.
She even found a Marquesan name for it, as tradition
dictates
: "
Te Haka Iki Taaoa
"
,
which means
"
The great leader who walks and who will go far
"
.
An allusion
to the presidential campaign.
"
I will fight by your side
"
The Head of State was content to smile, not there to talk politics: “
France loves you because there is something unthinkable, bigger than us, a nature and a culture. And what I want through you to celebrate in the Marquesas, here, in French Polynesia, is that
”, he declared.
Emmanuel Macron will spend the night here before going to Upeke, one of the archaeological sites that the French president wants to inscribe as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
“
I will fight alongside you so that we can classify the Marquesas Islands at Unesco (
long applause)
.
And do it because it is both this nature, this biodiversity.
It's not a technical word, it's your life, it's your landscapes, it's your birds.
These are our landscapes, these are our birds.
And also to fight for these traditions, this culture, these civilizations that you carry and that you honor
”
,
he declared.
It thus supports the initiative of the local authorities who have embarked for several years in the long procedure to obtain the Unesco label.
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Emmanuel Macron
French politics
Unesco
French Polynesia