VERDUN (France), June 25: President Jacques Chirac inaugurated a memorial on Sunday to the thousands of Muslims who died during World War One at a ceremony marking the 90th anniversary of the blood-soaked battle of Verdun.
The commemoration comes at a time of turbulence in France’s relations with its multi-ethnic minorities and a senior Muslim leader said he hoped the belated recognition of his community’s war dead would help ease the tensions.
Mr Chirac looked back almost with nostalgia at the way France rallied together in 1916 to fight off the Germans.
“This ceremony reminds us how in that moment of history, at Verdun and for Verdun, the French nation knew how to unite,” he said.
Separate memorials already stand for the Christians and Jews who died in the mud and misery of the trenches, but until Sunday, the Muslims only had a small plaque dedicated to them.
France mobilised close to 600,000 colonial subjects, including many from Muslim territories such as Algeria and Tunisia, during World War One, of whom 78,000 were killed. Total French dead numbered 1.2 million.
Some of France’s former colonies have complained that France has been ungrateful to its colonial troops, arguing that without their efforts, Paris would have fallen to the Germans. —Reuters
