Meanwhile, French settlers, and Francophone and mixed-race Ni-Vanuatu, established two separate parties on a platform of more gradual political development – the ''Mouvement Autonamiste des Nouvelles-Hébrides'' (MANH), based on Espiritu Santo, and the ''Union des Communautés des Nouvelles-Hébrides'' (UCNH) on Efate. The parties aligned on linguistic and religious lines: the NHNP was seen as the party of Anglophone Protestants, and were backed by the British who wished to exit the colony altogether, whereas the MANH, UCNH, Nagriamel and others (collectively known as the 'Moderates') represented Catholic Francophone interests, and a more gradual path to independence. France backed these groups as they were keen to maintain their influence in the region, most especially in their mineral-rich colony of New Caledonia where they were attempting to suppress an independence movement.