France will raise war pensions for its African war veterans to the same level as those of their French comrades, Nicolas Sarkozy has said.

Tens of thousands are still alive and will benefit from new pension laws.

Mr Sarkozy said his government had agreed at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday to introduce "perfect equality" of military pensions for veterans of French forces - regardless of what country they lived in.

France had previously resisted paying the same pension to veterans of its armed forces who did not live in French territory, though many are in countries that were French colonies at the time of their service....