France`s environment minister to shun COP29 in Baku after  `unacceptable` attacks Azerbaijan`s president 

ArmInfo. France's Environment Minister Agnes Pannier- Runacher will stay away from the  COP29 global climate change conference in Baku after "unacceptable"  attacks by Azerbaijan's president Ilham Aliyev, she said Wednesday  (Nov 13).

Aliyev had accused France of "crimes" and "human rights violations"  in overseas territories including New Caledonia in the south Pacific,  where 13 people have been killed this year in protests that broke out  in May over a contested voting reform.

"President Aliyev's words against France and Europe as the COP29  opened in Baku are unacceptable," Pannier-Runacher told the French  Senate (upper house).

Azerbaijan's leader was using "the fight against climate change for a  shameful personal agenda," she added.  Aliyev had earlier charged  that "the regime of President (Emmanuel) Macron killed 13 people and  wounded 169 ... during legitimate protests by the Kanak people in New  Caledonia".

Violence broke out in mid-May in New Caledonia, northeast of  Australia, over Paris's plan for voting reforms that indigenous Kanak  people fear would leave them in a permanent minority, crushing their  chances of winning independence.

France sent thousands of troops and police to the archipelago, which  is home to around 270,000 people and located nearly 17,000 kilometres  (10,600 miles) from Paris.

The reform has been abandoned by a new government since Macron called  new legislative elections in June.

But the extent of the violence and damage was such that Prime  Minister Michel Barnier last month announced the postponement of the  territory's local polls until the end of 2025.

Aliyev on Wednesday accused France of holding Mediterranean island  Corsica and Paris's far-flung overseas island territories "under the  colonial yoke".

Azerbaijan has played host to a group of pro-independence movements  from French overseas territories in an apparent bid to needle Paris,  which has long supported Baku's arch-rival Armenia.

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 said.

"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".

Aliyev had on Tuesday called oil and gas "a gift of the God" in his  COP opening address.

The Azerbaijani president's remarks were "unworthy of the COP  presidency", Pannier-Runacher said.

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.