PARIS — President Emmanuel Macron, pursuing his try and resolve a few of his nation’s most painful colonial legacies, at this time requested for “forgiveness” on behalf of France for the abandonment of the lots of of 1000’s of Algerian Arabs who fought on the French aspect within the Algerian warfare of independence.

On the finish of the eight-year warfare in 1962, the greater than 200,000 Algerians who had sided with the French Military have been deserted to their destiny, though France had indicated that it will care for them. Many have been tortured and massacred by the Algerian authorities after a warfare characterised by singular brutality.

Algerian anger towards the “Harkis,” as they’re recognized in France, ran so deep that even in 2000, throughout a go to to Paris, the previous Algerian president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in contrast them to Nazi collaborators.

Considered as traitors of their homeland, roughly 90,000 Harkis managed to flee to France — as did about 800,000 “Pieds-Noirs,” French Algerians of European descent — however they met a hostile reception. They have been a reminder of a misplaced warfare. Former President Charles de Gaulle, who introduced the warfare to an finish, was dismissive of them. Unwelcome strangers, Harkis have been held in camps with their households, typically in appalling situations.

“I’m asking for forgiveness. We is not going to neglect,” Mr. Macron stated at an Élysée Palace ceremony. France had “failed in its responsibility,” he advised about 300 Harkis and their households. “I need to specific our gratitude to our fighters.”

The president, who faces an election in slightly over six months, stated that his authorities would draft a legislation that would offer “reparations” for the Harkis. This amounted to a proper recognition of the state’s duty, first accepted by the earlier president, François Hollande.

Harki organizations stated solely such a legislation may put an finish to “60 years of a sure hypocrisy.”

Mr. Macron, 43, is the primary French president born after the Algerian warfare of independence. He has taken a number of steps towards shedding belated mild on a painful chapter in French historical past, together with acknowledging widespread use of torture and the brutal killing of a number one Algerian lawyer, Ali Boumendjel. France had claimed for many years that he dedicated suicide.

Ending 132 years of French colonization, the Algerian warfare, fought from 1954 till 1962, left a half-million folks useless in keeping with French accounts, and 1.5 million useless in keeping with Algeria. It broke France into violently opposed factions that threatened to tear the nation aside, with rumblings of a army coup in 1958 and an tried coup in 1961.

A peace accord was signed on March 18, 1962, and authorised overwhelmingly by French voters, opening the way in which for Algerian independence.

A report on the warfare commissioned by Mr. Macron led to the institution of a Recollections and Fact Fee, in an try and heal a few of the enduring wounds. However Algeria’s requires a proper French apology went unmet. Mr. Macron has insisted there will likely be “no repentance, no apologies.”

The act of contrition got here very near repentance, however in fact it was addressed to Algerians who fought on the French aspect.

The sixtieth anniversary of the tip of the warfare will likely be marked in March subsequent yr, one month earlier than the primary spherical of the presidential election. Mr. Macron is decided to advance his quest for Franco-Algerian reconciliation earlier than then, partly to go off the anti-immigrant problem of Marine Le Pen. The Harkis have prior to now proven sturdy assist for her rightist Nationwide Rally, previously the Nationwide Entrance.