Senegal commemorated the 80th anniversary of the Thiaroye massacre on Sunday, a colonial-era tragedy where hundreds of Senegalese soldiers, veterans of World War II, were killed by French troops in 1944, Al Jazeera reports.
The ceremony, attended by France’s foreign affairs minister and other African heads of state, marked a significant moment as France, for the first time, officially acknowledged its role in the massacre.
The event held in Thiaroye, a fishing village outside Dakar, has long been a source of contention between Senegal and its former colonizer. Senegal has consistently demanded a full apology, a thorough investigation, and recognition of the true scale of the killings. While French military records claim between 35 and 75 soldiers died, historians place the death toll closer to 400. International pressure to exhume mass graves and clarify the casualty count has mounted for years.
In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged that French soldiers committed the massacre.
“France must recognize that on that day, the confrontation between soldiers and riflemen who demanded their full, legitimate wages triggered a chain of events that resulted in a massacre,” Macron wrote.
This acknowledgment comes amidst growing tensions between France and several African nations regarding its military presence on the continent. France has announced plans to reduce its troop deployments as part of a broader review, a move that follows a recent shift by some West African countries towards seeking security assistance from Russia.
