Présidentielle en France: Dominique de Villepin annonce une bonne nouvelle pour les tirailleurs sénégalais
Dominique de Villepin, the likely candidate for the French presidential election, stated in an interview with BFM TV that if elected president, he would have a Senegalese rifleman interred in the Panthéon. According to him, this gesture would be part of France's recognition of its debt to Africa.
When asked which figure he would choose to have honored in the Pantheon, the former Prime Minister replied without hesitation: "A Senegalese rifleman, because I like France to acknowledge its debts." He felt that French history is marked by a recurring form of ingratitude towards those who fought under its flag, while acknowledging that several of his predecessors had begun a process of remembrance.
"A number of our presidents have begun to acknowledge France's debts. Jacques Chirac did so, Nicolas Sarkozy made gestures as well, François Hollande and Emmanuel Macron made others," he recalled.
Dominique de Villepin, however, insisted on the treatment of the Senegalese riflemen, which he deemed unworthy of the role they played in both world wars and in other theaters of operation around the world. "The way we treated the Senegalese riflemen, thanks to whom we won the First World War, the Second World War..." he lamented, also mentioning the Thiaroye massacre, which he said he would not forget.
The former Prime Minister also denounced the refusal to pay pensions to these veterans, as well as the repression exercised upon their return to France for fear that they would spread, after 1945, ideas deemed subversive in their countries of origin.
According to him, this repression resulted in the deaths of several hundred riflemen imprisoned on French territory. "I haven't forgotten it," he insisted.
Dominique de Villepin also invoked a personal connection to this history, mentioning members of his family who fought alongside Algerian and Senegalese riflemen. He concluded by emphasizing the magnitude of France's colonial debt: "Without the contribution of the colonial empire, the France that is at peace today, and in which we live, would not be the same."
Commentaires (20)
Nous on réclame la vérité sur les massacres de thiaroye 44 et le reliquat des pensions.
Et la contradiction qui s'affiche est de voir un français défendre le droit des tirailleurs alors que nous avons des africains qui sont prêts à oublier.
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