Senegalese riflemen, gathered in Thiaroye at the end of 1944, were killed by French colonial forces while demanding payment of their arrears of pay and various bonuses and combat allowances.
Emmanuel Macron acknowledged, in a letter addressed to Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye that BFMTV was able to obtain, that French colonial forces had committed a “massacre” in Thiaroye, near Dakar, on December 1, 1944.
“France must recognize that on that day, the confrontation of soldiers and riflemen who demanded that their entire legitimate pay be paid, triggered a chain of events leading to a massacre,” says the content of the letter from the President of the Republic this Thursday, November 28, 2024.
“It is also important to establish, as much as possible, the causes and facts leading to this tragedy,” continues Emmanuel Macron. “Given our relations of friendship and fraternity, our common history, and our desire to build a harmonious future, we owe each other truth and justice.”
The number of victims remains uncertain
More than 1,600 riflemen – former German prisoners of war who had participated in the fighting of 1940 – were gathered in Thiaroye at the end of 1944.
On December 1, two weeks after their arrival in the camp and while they were demanding payment of their arrears of pay and various combat bonuses and allowances, the colonial forces shot at them.
French authorities at the time admitted the deaths of at least 35 people. Several historians put forward a much higher number of victims, up to several hundred.
80 years later, commemorations are to be held this weekend at the Thiaroye military cemetery.
Hugues Garnier with AFP Journalist BFMTV
