French generals may be delisted over ‘coup’ letter

THE head of France’s armed forces has pledged to punish 20 French generals and 18 active soldiers, including officers, who signed an open letter warning of the risks of “civil war” at the hands of “fanatics and Islamists”.

Regarding the generals, “each one [will go] before a senior military council” and could be “delisted [or] put into immediate retirement”, Gen Francois Lecointre told Le Parisian.

As “second section” reservists, the generals have left active service but are still answerable to the defence ministry and obliged to remain neutral in public.

The 18 still in active service, including four officers, face dismissal, in particular the higher-ranking signatories. “The higher the responsibilities, the stronger the obligation of neutrality and exemplarity,” said Gen Lecointre.

The letter was in Valeurs Actuelles on April 21 – the 60th anniversary of a failed coup d’état against Charles de Gaulle. Initially signed by 1,200 members of the military, 8,000 servicemen and women have added their names. It urges President Emmanuel Macron to stop France descending into chaos fomented by “fanatic partisans”.

The letter claimed that France was “disintegrating with the Islamist hordes of the banlieue [suburbs] who are detaching swathes of the nation and turning them into territory subject to dogmas contrary to our constitution.”

Its main instigators are alleged to have ties to far-right, anti-immigration movements, or the “yellow vests”. Marine Le Pen, National Rally leader and presidential candidate, asked the signatories to join her “battle for France”.