Obituary: Jacques Roseau

Jacques Roseau, politician, born Algiers 1938, died Montpellier 5 March 1993.

ON THE EVENING of Friday 5 March, Jacques Roseau, the leader of Recours-France, the movement which represented former settlers in Algeria, the Pieds Noirs, was shot by an unknown gunman in Montpellier. His secretary, who was with him in his car and was slightly wounded, commented: 'Thirty years after it supposedly ended, the Algerian war continues.'

Jacques Roseau was the descendant of those whom poverty had obliged to leave France in 1848 and to settle in the region of Oran. He achieved early prominence when a student at the Lycee Bugeaud of Algiers. He became President of the school section of the Algerie-Francaise movement and he founded several newspapers, the most famous of which was called Energie Nationale. He served in Kabylie as an infantry soldier and then began to study law. But as Algeria became independent he decided to leave and in 1962 he and his family settled in France. Immediately he started to create associations to defend the interests of former settlers, and he soon extended his activities to the Harkis, Algerians who had volunteered to serve in the French army and who constantly had to take refuge in France. The movement Recours-France was created in 1972 in order to unite several different groups in one organisation which would decide how their members should vote in elections.

Roseau was everyone's idea of a southerner. He was energetic, voluble, cheerful and amusing. He liked colourful ties and smart suits. But what distinguished him from many of his colleagues was his desire to establish a wide range of political contacts. Although he had been a bitter opponent of General de Gaulle he had no hesitation in defending his Gaullist successors. He knew Jaccques Chirac very well (they said 'tu' to each other) and there were rumours that if Chirac were to become Prime Minister at the end of March, he would have offered a junior post to Roseau. But while his association was disappointed with the Socialists, who are accused of betraying their cause, Roseau was on excellent terms with the Socialist mayor of Montpellier, Georges Freche, and had contacts with certain radicals.

Not everyone agreed with this manner, and not everyone approved of his tendency to issue instant communiques to the press. Roseau did not include in his wide circle of acquaintances members of the National Front and he was particularly opposed to Jean-Marie le Pen. When he was the victim of an attack at Nice, in 1991, he blamed it on the National Front. He was also opposed to fundamental Islamism, and he probably made a number of enemies in that section. He returned to Algeria from time to time and he was a great admirer of the King of Morocco. His violent death has been regretted by all the leading political figures in France - with the exception of le Pen.