South Pacific islands greet French President Francois Hollande with dancing, garlands and 30 dead pigs

Francois Hollande has become the first French president to visit the tiny volcanic island of Futuna in the South Pacific. To mark the occasion, 30 pigs were slaughtered and roasted, arranging them in rows in front of him, with their legs in the air. The biggest one was symbolically offered to him. In return, Hollande promised the islanders an ATM and dialysis equipment for their hospital.

With his visit, Hollande has fulfilled one of his 2012 campaign pledges: to visit all 11 of France's overseas departments (Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Réunion, Mayotte, French Polynesia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Wallis and Futuna, Saint Marti, Saint Barthélemy and New Caledonia).

Before arriving in Futuna, the French president visited Wallis, the larger island that makes up the French overseas collective of Wallis and Futuna. He was greeted by dancers and school children singing the Marseillaise.

He can expect a less friendly welcome at the next stop on his travels: French Polynesia, where compensation for the 193 nuclear tests France carried out between 1966 and 1996, is still a contentious issue.

Hollande is on 45,000km tour of the South Pacific and Latin America, taking in French Polynesia, Peru, Argentina and Uruguay. During the visit he will have two Mondays, as he crosses the international date line between Wallis and Futuna and Tahiti twice.