French President Jacque Chirac inaugurated Sunday a memorial to Muslim soldiers who died fighting for France at Verdun, which was fought between the German and French armies between February 21 and 19 December 1916 around Verdun-sur-Meuse in northeast France, and other battlefields of World War 1,BBC reported.
Marking 90 years since the Battle of Verdun, where more than a quarter of a million died and about half a million were wounded, the French President unveiled a monument to Muslims who fell in the key WWI battle.
The commemoration, marking the 90th anniversary of the 300-days Verdun battle is the first to honor Muslims who died in the war over the strategically located French town and in other World War I battles.
Mr Chirac hailed the French army in Verdun as "France in its diversity".
The French government built monuments in the 1930s for Jewish and Christian soldiers killed, among over quarter of a million, at Verdun in 1916.
Muslim soldiers were only honored by a small pillar dedicated to Africans who fought in the French army.
"People of all walks of life, of all beliefs, of all religions, are at Verdun," Chirac said.
Some 72,000 soldiers from France's colonies - including Morocco, Senegal, Algeria, Tunisia and Madagascar died fighting under the French flag in the 10-month battle during World War I, he added.
The white-walled Moorish-style monument, built at a cost of 500,000 euros, is seen as a belated recognition of the sacrifice of over 600,000 Muslim soldiers from France's North African colonies who fought in the war.
"We are trying to repair an injustice ... With this monument we hope that the descendants of these fighters, many of whom live in France, can take pride in their forefathers and realise that the nation has not forgotten them," said Veterans' Affairs Minister Hamlaoui Mekachera.
"It was at Verdun that Islam in France was born," said Dalil Boubakeur, President of the Council for the Muslim Religion (CFCM),
"It took root in the churned earth of Verdun, Douaumont, Fleury (outlying forts) where Algerian, Tunisian, Senegalese 'tirailleurs' and Moroccan 'tabors' defended France.
"Today -- as young people ask questions about their identity -- it is important to say that their parents helped in the defence of the country," he added.
"The inauguration is a sign of changes going on in French society, where there's growing recognition of different communities," said Serge Barcellini, political scientist at Nancy University.
Muslims form about 10 to 12% of the French population, between 5 and 6 million, the highest percentage of Muslims in a Western European country.
Despite the positive initiative by President Chirac, a decision by his government in 2004 prohibiting Muslim girls from wearing Hijabs, Islamic headscarves, at school, continues to be a source of Muslims’ discontent with the French government's policies.
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