Others defected from the FLN rebel forces, persuaded by one means or another to change sides. Many Harkis came from families or other groups who had traditionally given service to France. A principal motive for fighting on the side of the French was to provide for family and protect property, rather than strictly a patriotic devotion to France. From the viewpoint of Algerian nationalists, all Harkis were traitors; but at independence, the signatories of the March 1962 cease-fire ("Accords d'Evian" signed by France and the Algerian FLN), guaranteed that no one, Harkis or Pieds-Noirs (Algerian-born Europeans with French nationality), would suffer reprisals after independence for any action during the war. Post-war abandonment and reprisals In 1962 the French government of Charles de Gaulle originally ordered officials and army officers to prevent the Harkis from following the Pieds-Noirs and seeking refuge in metropolitan France. William B. Cohen wrote: Some officers of the French army disobeyed and tried to assist the Harkis under their command - as well as their families - to escape from Algeria. About 90,000 Harkis (including family members) found refuge in France. On the other hand, the OAS far-right terrorist group initiated a campaign of bombings in Algeria following the Evian Accords to block the Pieds-Noirs population from leaving the country. As feared, widespread reprisals took place against those Harkis who remained in Algeria. It is estimated that the National Liberation Front (FLN) or lynch mobs in Algeria killed at least 30,000 and possibly as many as 150,000 Harkis and their dependents, sometimes in circumstances of extreme cruelty. In A Savage War Of Peace, Alistair Horne wrote: Regular Algerian Muslim troops (who were offered the option of continuing to serve in the French Army) were only occasionally subject to reprisals. Some leaders of the new Algerian Republic were veterans of the French Army, which prior to independence had provided one of the few avenues for advancement open to the Muslim majority in colonial society. By 1961 there were about 400 Algerian Muslim officers in the French Army, although only one had achieved promotion to the rank of general. Originally the only official provision made for transferring serving Harkis to France had been for those who were willing to enlist in the French Army. Most Harkis were ineligible for this option because it applied only to single men within limited age categories. The French government, concerned mainly with disengagement