French MPs on Tuesday called for the creation of a parliamentary commission to investigate the assassination of dozens of Senegalese infantrymen after the Second World War in Thiaroye, Senegal.
As Senegal prepares to commemorate the 80th anniversary of this tragic event, five French MPs, including Dieynaba Diop, an elected member of the Socialist Party (PS) and originally from Senegal, tabled a cross-party resolution proposal in the National Assembly on Tuesday.
Their goal is to shed light on this case shrouded in mystery.
“This morning, we presented to the press the cross-party resolution proposal that we will table in the National Assembly in order to request the creation of a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the Thiaroye massacre in Senegal on December 1, 1944,” said the MP from Senegal, emphasizing that it is an “essential initiative to restore the honour and dignity of the Senegalese riflemen assassinated by the French army.”
The French lawmaker stressed the importance of this approach in establishing the truth, noting that “in the face of our country’s colonial history, we owe this truth in order to allow a peaceful memory between France and Senegal, for future generations.”
The Thiaroye massacre remains one of the darkest pages in French colonial history.
At the end of the Second World War, thousands of African soldiers, grouped under the generic name of Senegalese riflemen, fought for France.
After their demobilisation, some were grouped together at the Thiaroye military barracks to await payment of their compensation.
However, on December 1, 1944, these soldiers, who were demanding their due, were shot dead on the orders of French officers.
The exact number of victims remains uncertain to this day.
In a recent statement to Radio France Internationale, former French President François Hollande described the events as a “massacre” for the first time.
This is a decisive step in the communication of a French official of his level on this affair that he earlier considered to be a “bloody repression” in a statement made in 2014.
“It is a massacre because it is not simply a repression as we know in demonstrations that overflow. Here, it is a massacre with machine guns,” he stressed.
ODL/te/fss/jn/APA