Ouvéa cave hostage taking

The Ouvéa cave hostage taking was an event that occurred from 22 April 1988 to 5 May 1988 in which members of the independence movement, the National Union for Independence-Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front assassinated 4 gendarmes and took 27 gendarmes, a public prosecutor and seven members of the French GIGN military unit hostage on the island of Ouvéa, New Caledonia. They demanded talks with the French government about independence for New Caledonia from France.

The French government said it refused to negotiate with terrorists or agree to the group's demands. It sent a joint hostage recovery team that consisted of:

19 of the hostage-takers and two members of the hostage recovery team were killed in the assault. There were allegations that many of the hostage-takers were summarily executed after being captured.

The assault "Operation Victor" was initiated on 4 May at around 10 PM. Around seventy-four operators moved into the forest towards the hostage location. The Kanak independentists numbered around 30 and were armed.

The hostages had been located in Gossannah cave, a series of caves on Ouvéa Island. The assault team moved into their final assault positions roughly 300 metres parallel from the cave entrance.

The Commando Hubert operators were tasked to neutralise the AA52 7.5mm medium machine gun which was located at the entrance to the cave and would pin down any approaching force and increase the risk of the hostages being harmed. The 11^e choc were to neutralise the other Kanak positions located to the south. A joint GIGN and Commando Hubert team would approach the entrance to the cave where the hostages were located. The attack started at 6:15 AM and the assault teams realised they were in a different position than they should have been. A Puma helicopter that was supposed to provide a noise distraction was three minutes late and 300 metres off target. As a result, the separatists were warned of the assault and had time to pull back inside the caves. Some Kanak sentries spotted the approaching assault team who had moved further north than they should have and opened fire, wounding a Commando Hubert operator. Another operator shot and killed the sentry that had fired. Another assault force member was killed as they crossed the open ground in front of the cave. The Commando Hubert team cleared a 50-metre area in front of the machine gun position with flamethrowers.

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