PARIS—France’s overseas territories minister on Thursday welcomed news that New Caledonia had elected Louis Mapou as its first pro-independence president since a 1998 deal with Paris to grant more political power to the French Pacific territory. New Caledonia, which houses business operations for Brazilian multinational mining company Vale and French mining group Eramet, was hit by riots last year. The archipelago became a French colony in 1853 and tensions have long run deep between pro-independence indigenous Kanaks, and descendants of colonial settlers who remain loyal to Paris. “I welcome the agreement reached by New Caledonia’s government to designate its president. I congratulate Louis Mapou and wish him success: in Paris or in video conference I am inviting him to discuss the various issues we have in common,” Sebastien Lecornu said on Twitter. The election comes a few months before the third and final referendum that the island can legally take …