French President Nichoas Sarkozy announced yesterday that citizens of Martinique, Guadeloupe, St Maarten, and French Guiana, all of the French Caribbean departments, are to vote on more autonomy in January 2010, Sarkozy made the announcement during his meeting with local chief magistrates of the two regions, pledging to give more freedom to overseas regions. Martinique and Guadeloupe recently made headlines when they were rocked by unrest in February. Protests in Guadeloupe in recent days indicate that the conditions that led to the protests early this year have not been resolved. French Guiana is famous for its space launch center at Kourou and also has an important French military base.