French press review 26 September 2016

President Hollande offers "Harkis" France's long-awaited apology. But the thousands of the Algerian "Pieds Noirs" abandoned to themselves after the 7-year independence war still wait for reparations for the moral prejudice suffered. 

 We begin with a flurry of reactions to President Francois Hollande's recognition on Sunday that France "abandoned" Algerians who fought alongside French colonial forces in the Algerian war of independence.

Monsieur Hollande was honoring a campaign pledge while running for president in 2012. For the record, historians put the number of the so-called "Harkis" left behind after Colonial France lost the seven-year Algerian war of independence in 1962 at between 55,000 and 75,000 people.

The Harkis were accused by the victorious National Liberation Front (FLN) nationalists of being traitors and massacred many of them. This, while around 60,000 others allowed to settle in France were placed in squalid camps.

According to Sud-Ouest the recognition of France's culpability towards the Harkis after a wait lasting more than half a century was long overdue even if the words will not completely repair the moral prejudice suffered by the Harkis and their children.

La Charente libre says it expects candidates vying for the Elysée in the 2017 elections to promise the Harkis all sorts of reparations which are not likely to come, an overbidding that voters are likely to witness after that vote to be forgotten until the next presidential elections.

For la Nouvelle République du Centre Oust it is never too late to get it right. What matters the most it argues, is the dimension it brings to the controversial debate about national identity raging in France.

According to the paper, there is a need for third generation Harkis,  and that of their grandchildren to be cleansed of the humiliation endured by their elders so that they can fully enjoy rights and duties of all citizens of the French Republi

La Montagne/Centre France puts the number of Harkis and their descendants at around 3 million, numbers described by the regional newspaper as attractive battalions of voters who traditionally are sensitive to National Front ideas but who candidate Hollande is unlikely to consider as lost in his bid to seek re-election.

L'Union says it is not surprised that Hollande is making eyes at some 500,000 Harki voters. May be he has felt the urgency to isolate his former economy minister Emmanuel Macron argues the regional publication, even though the former allies are still to declare their candidacies.

Meanwhile,as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump prepare to square off in their 90-minute first televised US presidential campaign debate, at Hofstra University in New York Sunday night, Le Figaro says it expected the two to "continue shooting each other with real bullets" as they have done during their state to state campaign shuttle.

The stakes of a close range clash are colossal says the right-wing newspaper. Le Figaro points to the sharp collapse of Clinton's ratings in the opinion polls, the number of undecided voters estimated at 20 percent and the fact that it will be vital for the two disliked candidates to correct their image.

Libération underlines a double headed problem Mrs. Clinton is likely to encounter after lining up the support of the main American press establishments and Hollywood stars. Libé claims that battalions of Trump's backers are itching to settle scores with the so-called "aristocratic elite crushing them with their haughtiness".