Senegalese veterans who fought for France in the world wars and other conflicts have been granted the right to claim a French pension in their country of origin, overturning a previous rule stating they had to spend at least six months a year in France.
The decision means that African riflemen recruited by the French army, known as tirailleurs, will be allowed to return permanently to their home countries while continuing to receive their minimum state benefits from France.
Although the majority of the former riflemen were born in Senegal, others have Mauritanian or Malian nationality.
According to the Office of Former Combatants, some 40 veterans have been identified as eligible, with France’s Ministry of Solidarity and Health confirming to FranceInfo radio that at least 20 applications have been validated so far.
The French government’s decision was revealed in media reports this Wednesday, following a long struggle by veterans and their supporters to secure full pension rights.
Forced to live half the year in France
Until now, veterans born in France’s former African colonies who enlisted in the French army were obliged to live at least six months of the year in France to receive their minimum old age pension.
For years, they have been fighting an administrative battle to live out the end of their lives in their country of origin.
As it stands, the new provision only applies to the basic state pension of €950 per month, meaning that veterans will still lose their right to claim French disability benefits or other welfare if they leave France.
The surviving riflemen identified are all in their 90s and mainly fought in French Indochina and Algeria.
Created in Senegal in 1857 under French Emperor Napoleon III, the first battalion of tirailleurs sénégalais was expanded to include men from other regions of West and Central Africa colonised by France at the end of the 19th century.
More than 200,000 tirailleurs fought in World War I, 150,000 in the Second World War and 60,000 in France’s war in Indochina.
The move to expand their pension rights came as a new film telling their story – “Tirailleurs”, titled in English “Father and Soldier” – was released this week.
Starring well-known French actor Omar Sy, the film focuses on a Senegalese father and son fighting for France during World War I.
Relief for veterans
One 91-year-old veteran, Gorgui M’Bodji, told FranceInfo that the government move was “very good, a pleasure [to hear]”.
Until now he, like his comrades, has been obliged to live in France for six months a year to receive the minimum state pension.
“My wife will be happy, because I am here and I cannot see her,” M’Bodji said upon learning of France’s decision.
When in France, he lives in a small room in a hostel in the outskirts of Paris. “I’m here and I can’t see the children,” he told FranceInfo.
Another former rifleman, Yoro Diao, told the radio station: “We’re dying of low morale.”
The 91-year-old welcomed the new pension measure.
“It will lengthen our lives and there will be many centenarians among us because we will have [gained] moral satisfaction,” he said.
RFI
