Harkis, les

   In France, the term Harki is used to define Moslem Algerians who, during the Algerian war of independence, fought with the French army against the independentists. At the end of the war in 1962, and although the French tried to stop their exodus, about 90,000 Harkis managed to escape to France. Many of the thousands who remained in Algeria were massacred. In France, the situation of the Harkis was for many years brushed under the carpet. Thousands of Harki families were accommodated for years in internment camps and forestry camps, the most notorious of these being the Camp Joffre, near Perpignan. It was not until the 1990s that the French government began to officially recognise the injustices done to the Harkis; most recently, in 2007, President Sarkozy announced further measures in favour of Harki families, but stopped short of recognising any French responsibility for the fate suffered by Harkis after the war.