The Ministry of Solidarity evokes a “derogation, a tolerance granted under exceptional and defined conditions”. He indicates this Wednesday that the last Senegalese skirmishers will thus be able to return to their country of origin while receiving the minimum old age. If the pension can be received anywhere in the world, the payment of the minimum old age is conditional on living in France half the year.
“A number of people have expressed the wish to return to their country of origin to end their days with their families. We investigated how many people this affected,” the ministry said. The family allowance funds and the Secretary of State for Veterans have identified 22 Senegalese riflemen receiving the minimum old age, specifies the ministry confirming information from Franceinfo.
The Minister of Solidarity Jean-Christophe Combe will soon sign a letter authorizing them to keep the minimum old age while living outside France, the ministry said. This does not mean that they will return to their country of origin, which is not necessarily Senegal, notes the ministry.
Soldiers born in the former colonies
This announcement coincides with the theatrical release on Wednesday of the film “Tirailleurs”, with Omar Sy, which tells the story of these Senegalese riflemen during the First World War. Created under the Second Empire and dissolved in the early 1960s, the body of “Senegalese Tirailleurs” 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 from black Africa who fought under the French flag, whatever their nationality or country of origin. They participated in the Second World War and the wars of decolonization, notably in Indochina and Algeria.