The World : Melanesian Dissident Slain

The leader of pro-independence forces in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia and one of his top aides were assassinated by a hard-line nationalist, who was then mortally wounded by the leader’s bodyguards. High Commissioner Bernard Grasset, the territory’s top administrator, identified the victims as Jean-Marie Tjibaou, 53, president of the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front, and his assistant, Yeiwene Yeiwene. They were slain, he said, by Djubelly Wea of the United Front for Kanak Liberation, an extremist faction that considered Tjibaou too moderate in the drive for independence by native Melanesians, who call themselves Kanaks.