Born in the former French colonies in Africa and enlisted in the French army, these veterans were so far obliged to live at least six months of the year in France to perceive their minimum old age. About twenty cases have been identified.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
These former soldiers enlisted in the French army have been leading an administrative battle for several years to end their lives in their country of origin. The last “Senegalese skirmishers” will be able to return there while touching the minimum old age, was able to confirm the agency France-Presse with the Ministry of Solidarity, Wednesday January 4, after information published by franceinfo .
If retirement can be perceived all over the world, the payment of the minimum old age is conditioned on the fact of living in France half of the year. “A certain number of people have expressed the wish to go back to their country of origin to end their days with their families. We have sought to know how many people it concerned”, according to the ministry.
Family allowance funds and the State Secretariat for Veterans have identified twenty-two cases of “Senegalese skirmishers” affecting the minimum old age, specifies the ministry.
“Tolurance granted”
The Minister of Solidarity, Jean-Christophe Combe, will soon sign a letter authorizing them to keep the minimum old age by living outside France, it was specified in the ministry, which evokes a “derogation, a tolerance granted in exceptional and defined conditions “. This does not mean that they will leave in their country of origin, which is not necessarily Senegal, notes the ministry.
The association for the memory of Senegalese skirmishers, which has been carrying this file for years, claims that the skirmishers can also perceive CAF or their invalidity pension from their country of origin
This announcement coincides with the release in theaters Wednesday of the film Tirailleurs, with Omar Sy, which tells the story of these Senegalese skirmishers during the First World War.
created under the Second Empire and dissolved in the early 1960s, the body of “Senegalese skirmishers” brought together soldiers born in the former French colonies in Africa and enlisted in the French army. The term came to designate all the soldiers of black Africa who were fighting under the French flag, whatever their nationality or country of origin. They participated in the Second World War and the decolonization wars, especially in Indochina and Algeria.