Harki
They were regarded as traitors in independent Algeria and thousands of them were reportedly killed after the war in reprisals, despite the Évian Accords ceasefire and amnesty stipulations.
President Charles de Gaulle controversially made the decision to not give the Harkis sanctuary in France, viewing them as "soldiers of fortune" who should be discharged as soon as possible.
On 14 April 2012, President Nicolas Sarkozy recognized France's "historical responsibility" in abandoning Harki French Muslim veterans at the time of the war.
Tirailleurs from Algeria, Morocco and West Africa fought in Indochina as part of the French Expeditionary Force until the Fall of Dien Bien Phu (1954).
They were lightly armed (often only with shotguns and antique rifles), but their knowledge of local terrain and conditions made them valuable auxiliaries to French regular units.
[12] In 1962 the French government of Charles de Gaulle originally ordered officials and army officers to block the Harkis from following the Pieds-Noirs and seeking refuge in metropolitan France.
[2] On the other hand, the far-right Organisation armée secrète terrorist group initiated a campaign of bombings in Algeria following the Évian Accords to block Pieds-Noirs population from leaving the country.
[14] It is estimated that the National Liberation Front (FLN) or lynch mobs in Algeria killed at least 30,000 and possibly as many as 150,000 Harkis and their dependents, sometimes in circumstances of extreme cruelty.
[15] In A Savage War Of Peace, Alistair Horne wrote: Hundreds died when put to work clearing the minefields along the Morice Line, or were shot out of hand.
Others were tortured atrociously; army veterans were made to dig their own tombs, then swallow their decorations before being killed; they were burned alive, or castrated, or dragged behind trucks, or cut to pieces and their flesh fed to dogs.
Some leaders of the new Algerian Republic were veterans of the French Army, which prior to independence had provided one of the few avenues for advancement open to the Muslim majority in colonial society.
Charles de Gaulle appears to have been indifferent to the plight of the Muslim loyalists according to Horne, who reported that the president remarked to one of their spokesmen "Eh bien !
[16] On 19 March 1962 the responsible Minister of State Louis Joxe ordered attempts by French officers to transfer Harkis and their families to France to cease, followed by a statement that "the Auxiliary troops landing in the Metropolis in deviation from the general plan will be sent back to Algeria".
The government of Jacques Chirac subsequently acknowledged these former allies, holding public ceremonies to commemorate their sacrifices, such as the 25 September 2001 Day of National Recognition for the Harkis.
[19] While active Harki associations in France continue working to obtain further recognition and aid in integrating into the society; they are still a largely un-assimilated refugee minority.
[23] In July 2020, president Emmanuel Macron commissioned the French historian of Algerian-Jewish heritage Benjamin Stora to write a report and make his recommendations concerning the "memories of colonization and the Algerian War".
