Senegal report accuses France of planned 1944 Thiaroye massacre and cover-up

Senegal has announced that France committed a planned massacre at Thiaroye and covered it up.

Senegal has released a research report on the 1944 Thiaroye massacre, one of the bloodiest events in France’s colonial history.

Researchers presented the results of a decades-long investigation to Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, sharing official findings regarding the African soldiers who were fired upon by the French army in World War II.

France planned a massacre and covered it up

The report, commissioned by the Senegalese government, states that France carried out a premeditated mass killing and made a systematic effort to cover up the incident.

The report emphasizes that French authorities deliberately falsified records to conceal the scale of the atrocity.

The statement within the report, “The French authorities covered everything up,” summarizes this effort.

The document notes that while official records state 70 soldiers were killed, independent archives and witness testimonies indicate the number was between 300 and 400.

President Faye: A decisive stage in uncovering historical truth

President Faye described the report as “a turning point in Senegal’s quest for historical justice.”

“This white paper is a decisive stage in uncovering historical truth. It is based on concrete data obtained from archives in both Senegal and France,” Faye stated.

Mass grave excavations refute the colonial narrative

Since May 2025, archaeologists have been conducting excavations at the Thiaroye military camp near Dakar.

During these excavations, human remains bearing gunshot wounds were discovered. These findings corroborate the accounts of survivors and refute the colonial narrative that the event was a small-scale mutiny.

The excavations, carried out under government directive, aim to locate mass graves and identify the victims.

Stating that the investigations will continue in “all areas where mass graves are likely to be found,” Faye added, “Historical truth is not revealed by declaration, but is uncovered excavation by excavation, stone by stone.”

Background of the massacre: A demand for equal pay and dignity

In November 1944, approximately 1,300 African soldiers known as the “Senegalese Tirailleurs” returned to Senegal after being held as prisoners of war by Nazi Germany.

Stationed at Thiaroye, these soldiers demanded payment of their overdue salaries and equal treatment with white soldiers.

On December 1, 1944, French colonial troops opened fire on the unarmed soldiers. The new report describes this attack as a “premeditated act of suppression.”

France acknowledged the massacre 80 years later

At the time, French authorities claimed that 35 soldiers had died, labeling the event a “mutiny.”

However, historians and human rights organizations have long argued that it was a massacre intended to silence the African soldiers’ demands for dignity and equality.

France did not officially acknowledge the massacre until November 2024, 80 years after the event.

President Emmanuel Macron broke years of political silence by describing the incident as a “massacre.”

However, Macron did not offer an apology or commit to reparations in his statement.

The Senegalese Tirailleurs unit, established during the Second Empire and disbanded in the 1960s, consisted of soldiers from Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, and the Ivory Coast.

These troops fought for France in two world wars and in anti-colonial conflicts.

Today, the Thiaroye massacre is remembered as a powerful symbol of colonial injustice and the sacrifice of African soldiers.