France has decided to allow the Senegalese riflemen who fought in the French army to receive a pension salary and live permanently in their country without the need to reside for six months on French soil, and most of them are over ninety years old and they are the “last generation” of a group of African fighters, who volunteered or were recruited into the ranks of the French army and participated in all its battles, starting from the war of 1870 against Russia and ending with the Algerian war, which ended in 1962 on French soil.
The first of these battalions was formed in Senegal, but the “Senegalese riflemen” with their famous red caps came from all the French colonies from West and Central Africa to Madagascar, and after their demobilization, the former fighters returned to their countries that gained independence without thinking that France is their second home. Turn away from them.
In 1959, Paris froze the wages of ex-combatants, and for the shooters, this was the beginning of a long war against the French administration, and after a long struggle, they were able to receive a military pension again in 2006, like their French brothers in the world, they now receive 336 euros every six months .
And in 2017, 28 former Senegalese shooters officially received French citizenship after six decades of being denied it because of their countries’ independence from France.
