Senegal commemorates 80 years since French colonial massacre, seeking accountability

Senegal on Sunday (1 December) commemorated the 80th anniversary of a colonial-era massacre of African soldiers who were gunned down by French troops even though they had fought for France during World War II.
The Senegalese soldiers were massacred by the French at Thiaroye in 1944 simply for demanding fair treatment and payment on their return from the European battlefield. Senegalese president Bassirou Diomaye Faye who laid a flower wreath at the Thiaroye cemetery during a ceremony on Sunday was joined by several African leaders and also France’s foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot. Although the former colonial master acknowledged last week it had committed a “massacre” 80 years ago, the commemoration at the scene of the killings at the former Thiaroye military camp prompted renewed calls for an investigation into the slaughter. “Defenseless African heroes, armed with courage, dignity and African solidarity were killed in cold blood. It was a massacre,” said Faye.
The West African country has long demanded its former colonial master take responsibility, officially apologize and properly investigate the Thiaroye massacre. The French military has admitted that 35 to 75 soldiers were killed, a claim disputed by historians who put the number to nearly 400 troops killed. The 202 graves at Thiaroye cemetery are anonymous and it is not known how many are victims of the 1944 killings. There has been international pressure to exhume the mass graves to verify the official death toll. Paris has long been accused of falsifying or concealing records, and accounts of the number of casualties have remained unclear. The commemoration comes as France is faced with growing opposition to its military presence in several west African countries.