The World - News from July 3, 1988

New Caledonian separatist leader Jean-Marie Tjibaou failed to persuade his supporters to accept a new Paris-sponsored peace plan to end years of ethnic strife in the French Pacific territory. After a daylong meeting of his pro-independence Caledonian Union, Tjibaou told reporters in Noumea that his party will hold new talks to reach a compromise before July 15, when all of New Caledonia’s separatist groups will meet to discuss the peace plan. The plan, which provides for limited self-rule leading to a referendum in 1998, is aimed at ending violence between indigenous separatists and pro-French settlers. Tjibaou and loyalist leader Jacques Lafleur agreed to the plan last month in Paris.