Demands in France to “Compensate” Harkis Who Remained in Algeria
The French National Assembly presented a new and strange demand in the face of the Paris government, stipulating the necessity of compensating the “Harkis” who betrayed the liberation revolution but stayed in Algeria and did not leave it after the declaration of independence “in exchange for the property they lost.”
These unprecedented demands were expressed by the MP Philippe Pradal, in his letter to the State Secretary of the Ministry of Armies in charge of Veterans and Memory, dated March 12, 2024, viewed by Echorouk, in which he stated that the law regarding compensation for “Harkis” and their families did not specify compensation procedures of what he described “the consequences and damages resulting from the French authorities’ abandonment of numbers of Harkis on Algerian soil.”
According to this MP’s claim, the Harkis who remained on Algerian soil “lost their property, in addition to remaining for years subject to detention, which caused them great suffering and a tragic situation,” as he described it.
MP Philippe Pradal wondered whether the French government had an initiative or measures that it intended to take, to include these “Harki” who remained in Algeria and their families within the compensation law approved by the French authorities on February 23, 2022, and to enable them to access the stipulated compensation mechanisms.
In the context of his question, this French MP stated that he draws the attention of the State Secretariat in charge of veterans and memory, to the fact that the compensation policy, for what he called “the Harkis tragedy,” which was implemented under the law of February 23, 2022, included recognition for the Harkis and their families deported from Algeria regarding what they experienced after they entered the French territory. Still, according to him, the law did not address the issue of the Harkis and their families who remained on Algerian soil.
No comment has been yet submitted by the Secretariat of State at the French Ministry of Armed Forces in charge of Veterans and Memory regarding the question addressed to it.
French parties, right-wing in particular, have led a campaign in recent years to push the French government to “honour and rehabilitate” the Harkis who betrayed the liberation revolution, which prompted President Emmanuel Macron to approve a law to compensate them for the conditions they and their families experienced in camps that were established for them on French soil after the independence of Algeria, and allocated more than 60 million euros to compensate them and their family members under the “Recognition Law”.
Last November, the French embassy in Algeria published a controversial post on its official Facebook account related to the Harkis, on the occasion of the celebration of the 105th anniversary of the November 11 armistice, which marks the end of World War I, in which it praised “the sacrifices of some groups” that stood by its side in the wars which France fought during and after World War I, through World War II, and up to the Algerian liberation wars.
