(ROUGH CUT - NO REPORTER NARRATION) Queues formed at polling stations across New Caledonia on Sunday (November 4) as the French archipelago in the South Pacific voted whether to become the world's newest state, a referendum that is the result of a 30-year long decolonization process.

It is the first auto-determination vote to be held in a French territory since Djibouti in the Horn of Africa voted for independence in 1977.

Tensions have long run deep between pro-independence indigenous Kanaks and descendants of colonial settlers who remain loyal to Paris.

Voters have been asked the question "Do you want New Caledonia to gain full sovereignty and become independent?" A "yes" vote would not only dent the pride of France, once a colonial power whose reach spanned the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa and the Pacific Ocean, it would deprive Paris of a foothold in the Indo-Pacific region where China is expanding its presence.