France Approves Reparation Bill for Algeria’s Harkis

Lawmakers at French parliament on Tuesday. (AFP)
Lawmakers at French parliament on Tuesday. (AFP)
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France Approves Reparation Bill for Algeria’s Harkis

Lawmakers at French parliament on Tuesday. (AFP)
Lawmakers at French parliament on Tuesday. (AFP)

Sixty years after the end of the Algerian War, the French parliament adopted on Tuesday a bill to ask reparation to the Harkis, allowing their descendants to receive compensation for the way they were treated at the end of the war in 1962.

The Harkis were the Algerian Muslims who fought on the side of the French during the war of independence, but afterwards were left to fend for themselves.

The new French bill fulfills a commitment by President Emmanuel Macron last September, when he asked reparation to Algerians who were abandoned by France after the signing of the Evian Accords on March 18, 1962.

The Algerian War left nearly 500,000 dead, and its wounds are still open.

Tuesday’s move by the French deputies and senators comes to finalize the approval of the bill, which was adopted last week by the National Assembly.

"The bill is a recognition from the nation of the deep scar and the French tragedy of this dark page in our history," Geneviève Darrieussecq, French Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Armed Forces, in charge of Remembrance and Veterans.

The text also recognizes France’s "inadequate" hosting of the 90,000 Harkis and their families who fled Algeria after independence.

Half of them were placed in camps in France, often with their families, in degrading and traumatizing conditions.

The bill proposes compensations for these families, ranging from 2,000 to 15,000 euros.

The government estimates that 50,000 Harkis families will benefit from the bill, with an estimated cost of 310 million euros, paid over approximately six years.

Up to 200,000 Harkis – the name comes the Arabic word for "movement" given to the mobile units in which they served – fought for the French colonial power during the 1954-62 war with Algeria’s National Liberation Front.

Since 2003, France holds a national day to honor the Harkis, a day which is observed each year on the 25th of September.



Netanyahu and Trump Prioritize Gaza Hostages

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the press, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. US July 8, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the press, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. US July 8, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
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Netanyahu and Trump Prioritize Gaza Hostages

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the press, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. US July 8, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the press, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. US July 8, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that his meeting with US President Donald Trump focused on freeing hostages held in Gaza, and stressed his determination to "eliminate" the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas.

Netanyahu said on X that the leaders also discussed the consequences and possibilities of "the great victory we achieved over Iran," following an aerial war last month in which the United States joined Israeli attacks on Iran's nuclear sites.

Netanyahu is making his third US visit since Trump took office on January 20 and had earlier told reporters that while he did not think Israel's campaign in the Palestinian enclave was done, negotiators are "certainly working" on a ceasefire.

Trump met Netanyahu on Tuesday for the second time in two days to discuss the situation in Gaza, with the president's Middle East envoy indicating that Israel and Hamas were nearing an agreement on a ceasefire deal after nearly two years of war. Netanyahu also said that ceasefire efforts were underway.

A delegation from Qatar, the host of indirect talks between Israeli negotiators and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, met senior White House officials before Netanyahu's arrival on Tuesday, Axios said, citing a source familiar with the details.

According to Reuters, the White House had no immediate comment on the report. Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, said the number of issues preventing Israel and Hamas from reaching an agreement had decreased from four to one, expressing optimism for a temporary ceasefire deal by the end of the week.

Witkoff told reporters at a Cabinet meeting that the anticipated agreement would involve a 60-day ceasefire, with the release of ten live hostages and nine deceased individuals.

Netanyahu met with Vice President JD Vance and then visited the US Capitol on Tuesday, and is due back in Congress on Wednesday to meet with US Senate leaders.

He told reporters after a meeting with the Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson that while he did not think Israel's campaign in the Palestinian enclave was done, negotiators are "certainly working" on a ceasefire.

"We have still to finish the job in Gaza, release all our hostages, eliminate and destroy Hamas' military and government capabilities," Netanyahu said.