DAKAR, Sept 27, 2006 (AFP) - African war veterans who fought with the French army on Wednesday welcomed the former colonial ruler's decision to raise their pensions to match those of their French counterparts, albeit a little too late.

A Moroccan veterans' association, ANAC, hailed the move and urged France to implement it quickly as the veterans are now very old.

"It's a good move, but they have to move quickly, they have to activate it because each day there are veterans who die," the association's president, Mohamed Azzouzi, told AFP.

"They did this a bit too late. The majority of those concerned are already deceased," he said.

France announced Wednesday the decision to increase the pensions of war veterans from its former colonies, lifting a four-decade freeze widely seen as unjust.

The announcement coincided with the release of a film highlighting the discrimination suffered by some 300,000 troops from French-ruled Africa during World War II, who made up more than half of the total 550,000 fighters.

The movie, "Days of Glory", was shot in Morocco and shows Africans helping to liberate "motherland" France from Germany, but enduring discrimination from their white colleagues.

Many African war veterans on Wednesday expressed relief at finally being recognised.

"Better late than never," colonel Issa Ongoiba, president of the association of former fighters of Mali told AFP.

"We are satisfied, it is the price for our suffering and of the love which we have preserved for France despite the injustice we underwent," said colonel Dia Amadou Mamadou of the Mauritanian former fighters association.

Others were more skeptical.

"It's good news. We are very happy, but we wait to see the money," said Joseph Gbanhouan, head of former fighters in Ivory Coast, underscoring the mistrust the former colony still has towards France.

"There was discrimination ... we fought the same war but we were treated differently," he added.

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