"Repair of an "injustice": 28 Senegalese skirmishers return to French

An injustice" and a few humiliations were also repaired: 28 former Senegalese sharpshooters were "reinstated" on Saturday in French nationality by François Hollande under the gold of the Elysée, six decades after being deprived by the independence of the African colonies of France.

Fragile octogenarians leaning for the most part on a cane, their chests covered with medals, they had once distinguished themselves under the tricolor banner in Indochina or Algeria and, with tears in their eyes, they sang the Marseillaise.

Francois Hollande celebrated these "reunion" before handing over to each of them the decree that makes him a French citizen again. "It took a long battle so that France finally agreed to repair this injustice," he acknowledged.

"You are the story of France" and this one has a "blood debt" towards you, he said in front of these veterans born in the thirties. Among them are 23 Senegalese but also two Congolese, Two Central Africans and one Ivorian.

"This is the culmination of a long battle," said Aïssata Seck, deputy mayor of Bondy (Seine-Saint-Denis), whose petition was signed by 60,000 people, including many Celebrities, was at the origin of this ceremony.

"These Frenchmen by heart are in terribly precarious situations, with simple residence cards, these retirees have no choice but to remain alone in French territory, to leave their lives in Senegal, close to their families, Would mean losing their low pensions, "she explained in her petition.

Other similar ceremonies should follow, under the less solemn prefectures. "All the former tirailleurs who reside in France and who so request will benefit from the same positive response," Francois Hollande assured. They would still be a few dozen, according to the Elysee.

- 'Covered with glory' -

"Today, I pose a new principle: those who fought for France and who choose to live there must be able to become French," insisted the President of the Republic.

The Elysée ceremony was a replica of the more soberly prefectural events with their small institutional film explaining to the newly naturalized French that the history of France becomes their history. A small film that resonated in the present case curiously as these Frenchmen made the history of France.

Young soldier, Abdoulaye Diop, 82, had rolled his bump in Algeria, New Caledonia or Tahiti. For him, this ceremony will remain as a "reparation" after the "flagrant injustice" of the refusal of a first request for reinstatement. But in a few days, he said, he will be "proud to go vote" for the presidential election.

Same emotions for Mohamed Touré, 83, who suffered as a "humiliation" the tests of language of rigor but paid tribute to François Hollande, who "did what none of his predecessors had imagined."

He too will vote but without knowing "for whom". The last time, he remembered, was "for a referendum", when he was still "French military".

The 28 sharpshooters honored at the Elysée (one of whom had been represented) embodied the "last generation" of a long line of African fighters, volunteers or enlisted in the ranks of the French army.

Although the first regiments were trained in Senegal, these "Senegalese sharpshooters" with the famous Red Chechia originated from all the French colonies, from West and Central Africa, to Madagascar.

"It is known that there were more than 200,000 men in the First World War, 150,000 in the Second World War, 60,000 in Indochina ...", explains the historian Julien Fargettas, author of a book devoted to these "black soldiers".

They were "glamorous on all fronts," said François Hollande, recalling that it would be Sunday at the Chemin des Dames to commemorate the centenary of this offensive, in which "front-line" skirmishers from so far.

AFP