France faces 'war crimes' case

Some 200,000 Algerians fought with the French army

By BBC North Africa correspondent David Bamford

Algerian exiles who once fought alongside French forces during the Algerian independence war 40 years ago are taking the French Government to court for crimes against humanity.

We are going to law to restore their pride

Ahmed Rafa,
Harki National Liaison Committee

They are accusing France of abandoning 150,000 of its Algerian comrades to die at the hands of the National Liberation Front (FLN), and for the manner in which the survivors were herded into camps for 15 years once they had reached France.

Known as 'Harkis', the exiles are regarded as collaborators by the Algerian Government, which has forbidden them from returning to their country of origin.

Most of them now live in run-down suburbs in the towns of southern France.

Civil war

Some 200,000 Algerians fought with the French army between 1958 and 1962 in a vain attempt to prevent the FLN from winning the civil war in Algeria.

With the signing of the Evian accords in 1962 that paved the way for Algerian independence, 800,000 French settlers returned to their mother country, taking with them about 50,000 of their Algerian comrades.

Forty years later, the war is not forgotten

Of the remaining 150,000 left behind, most met their deaths at the hands of the FLN.

Those who survived and reached France became known as the Harkis, and have since grown into a community numbering half a million.

But they find themselves hated by other Algerians and neglected by their former French allies.

Fenced off

The Harkis were initially put into fenced-off camps before being allowed to occupy run-down housing estates in southern France.

For the past year, their leaders have been gathering evidence to take the French Government to court.

They now say their work is complete and the court case is due to be presented before the end of this week.

Harki leaders say they fully expect the French court to reject their case, but this will only open the way for the Harkis to take France to the European court.