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Europe
Pro-French Algerians sue over treatment in 1962
2003-11-05
ONE of the last surviving members of former French president Charles de Gaulle’s government is being sued over the deaths of tens of thousands of pro-French Algerians following allegations they were left to a brutal fate at the end of the Algerian war of independence in the 1960s. Pierre Messmer, the former armed forces minister under General de Gaulle, is at the centre of accusations in a lawsuit filed yesterday in Paris by representatives of the pro-French Algerians. They accuse Mr Messmer, 87, of crimes against humanity, saying he implemented a deliberately racist policy in which white settlers were evacuated to safety by the French forces as the war drew to a close while the pro-French Algerians were left to meet their fate at the hands of the victorious Algerian National Liberation Front. Between 70,000 and 150,000 of them died in the brutal reprisals which followed. The legal action was triggered by a new book, A French Lie by Georges-Marc Benamou, alleging Gen de Gaulle refused any escape route to loyal Algerians in 1962. Mr Messmer claims pro-French Algerians were offered integration into the French army or a small pay-off, and most took the latter.
Is anybody not suing anybody else? Brussels must be a very weird place this year...
Posted by:Fred Pruitt

#9  OP There are still Hmong refugees being brought to the US by church and veterans groups mainly in the Carolinas that I'm aware of.
Posted by: NotMikeMoore   2003-11-5 11:34:54 PM  

#8  We evacuated over 300,000, and probably left that many behind. Nasty, stupid, and short-sighted of the US Government under our only appointed President, Gerald Ford. The Democratic-controlled Congress has a hefty weight of guilt for this imbroglio, as well.

I helped host one of the Vietnamese refugees, and later tried to adopt a Vietnamese child. I'm still a bit bitter about how the testicle-challenged Congress handled the entire fiasco. It is NOT one of the bright points in this nation's existence.
Posted by: Old Patriot   2003-11-5 8:40:04 PM  

#7  You're right JFM... I'll ask my neighbors about that and perhaps borrow some shrimp.
Posted by: Shipman   2003-11-5 4:48:08 PM  

#6  Mr Simmins and others


While I was the guy who aired the bitter and shameful story of the harkis I would advise you to remind about the fate of theSouth Vietnamese, Cambodains and H'Mong who had trusted the US.

Posted by: JFM   2003-11-5 3:24:36 PM  

#5  Of all the French betrayls, Algeria ranks as the worst. It was the equivalant of our abandoning New Mexico because the Apaches revolted. Hundreds of thousands of French citizens were tossed to the tender mercies of the FLN. The 13th Demi-brigade was right.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins   2003-11-5 12:04:17 PM  

#4  NMM: If you're a true Scot, you know that the Stone of Scone was returned to Edinburgh Castle in 1996. It was in all the papers...
Posted by: snellenr   2003-11-5 9:26:07 AM  

#3  Very sad. But so very French.
Posted by: B   2003-11-5 7:55:41 AM  

#2  Brutal reprisals is an euphemism. They were killed in the most sadistic fashion: castrated, electrocuted, boiled, sawn.


Messmer escaped France June, 17th 1940 (ie one day before De Gaulle first broadcast calling for french joining the British) by hijacking a Vichy ship and he was a war hero in WWII but here he is lying: the truth is that French officers who tried to help harkis (loyalist Algerians) to reach France were threatened with sanctions by Messmer (who was following De Gaulle's orders) and that in fact the FLN would have been unable to take control over Algeria since the harkis outnumbered the FLN people. They were duped by the French Army who disarmed them. And then the FLN had his way with them.


Some French officers disobeyed orders and managed to save their harkis.


When I was in the Army I was in the same tent than the son of a harki. One day our MRE had beef and pork in it so I offered him to eat all the pork and leave him all the beef. Despite being a Muslim he refused and gladly ate half the beef and half the pork.

Posted by: JFM   2003-11-5 1:15:53 AM  

#1  As a Scottish American I want my stone of Scone back or unlimited scones at Starbucks!
Posted by: NotMikeMoore   2003-11-5 12:40:07 AM  

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