Over 35.000 Harkis Served French Army In Algeria After Independence

To date, the French Ministry of Armed Forces has officially distributed 35,000 war veterans’ cards to soldiers who worked in Algeria after independence, which means that Algeria has officially become a war zone in the period between July 1962 to July 1964, meaning during its independence, which is the process that cost the French treasury 16 million euros, in addition to 2.5 million euros, in solidarity with the Harkis’ sons and their families.

A media report of the Finance, Public Economy and Budget Control Committee of the French National Assembly (Parliament), dated July 10, 2020, -which copy is available to Echorouk-, indicates that in 2020 the French public treasury spent 16 million euros as a consequence of granting the Veterans’ Card to 35.000 soldiers who worked in post-independence Algeria (from July 62 to July 1964).

The report said that the launch of a special program for solidarity for the Harkis’ sons and their families (traitors of the Algerian liberation revolution), which resulted in a financial impact of 2.5 million euros, which means that the issue of the Veterans’ Cards that were granted to 35.000 soldiers and the solidarity program with the Harki’s sons and their families, has reached in 2020: € 18.5 million.

According to the report, this success in allocating this budget to the soldiers who worked in post-independence Algeria and solidarity with the Harkis ‘sons and their families, would not have been possible without the exceptional mobilization of the French Bureau of Veterans, Victims of War, and Veterans’ Associations.

Previously, the French parliament in its two chambers revealed – through official documents – that the number of soldiers who worked in Algeria after independence had reached 20.000, from July 3, 1962, to July 1, 1964, indicating that 535 French soldiers were eliminated in Algeria after Independence, or are still missing.

Under pressure from the Office of Veterans and Associations, the French authorities amended the Law to Grant the Veterans’ Cards, since the requirement to grant it to soldiers who worked in Algeria after July 3, 1962 conflicts with the decree ending war and military operations in Algeria, which coincides with the same history.

Under the amendment, the French Armed Forces Ministry granted the card of veterans to soldiers who worked in Algeria until July 1964, although military operations were ended in 1962, making Algeria an area of French military operations at the height of its independence.