“It is a day of mourning for the harkis and their families”reacts on Saturday March 19 on franceinfo Kader Tamazount, president of the harkis of Île-de-France, on the occasion of the commemorations of the 60th anniversary of the Evian Accords, putting an end to the war in Algeria. “For us, it was not the end of the Algerian war”continues this son of harkis, “it was on the contrary the beginning of the war”.
franceinfo: How do harkis experience this commemoration of the Evian agreements today?
Kader Tamazount : It is a day of mourning for the harkis and their families. For us, it was not the end of the Algerian war, it was on the contrary the beginning of the war. On May 12, two telegrams left from the French government of the time, ordering the abandonment of the harkis to popular vengeance and the enemy. This means that on May 12, 1962, we suffered the massacre of 100 to 150,000 harkis and each year, on May 12, we commemorate this tragedy. It is this date that interests us.
Your parents were themselves in the Bias camp…
I was born in the Rivesaltes camp, which was a transit camp, a sorting camp somewhere. Then, my parents were interned in the Bias camp, deprived of all freedom, of their fundamental rights. And it is for this reason that I demand compensation for all damages. We were robbed of everything for fifteen years. We demand a commission to assess all damages. The State must assume the ignominy that it subjected to the harkis of the camp of Bias in the Lot-et-Garonne.
What are the harkis demanding from the state today?
The forgiveness of the President of the Republic remains forgiveness, but he forgot to mention the massacres in Algeria. At no time did he speak of the dead, let alone the history of the harkis in Algeria. What we expect today fromEFrench tat is that he remembers what he did on French soil. Today we have a problem with theEFrench state and not with theEAlgerian state. He must assume his responsibility by repairing all the damage suffered.