80 Years After Killings, Senegal Wants the Facts From France

The middle school students in Senegal listened quietly one afternoon this past week as their history teacher told a story most of them knew already.

In 1944, French colonial forces massacred West African soldiers who had returned from France after fighting in World War II, said the teacher, Aminata Diedhiou.

Their school, in the town of Thiaroye, stands near the site of the killings.

Why did the French massacre them, one student asked. How were they killed, wondered another.

“I want to know more,” said Amy Sall, 16.

So does Senegal.

Ahead of the 80th anniversary of what is known as the Thiaroye Massacre, Senegal’s government has pressured France to fully explain one of the most sinister episodes of its colonial rule in Africa.

And Senegal won’t let it go, the latest signal sent by an African government that the relationship with the former colonizer is up for reconsideration.

After President Emmanuel Macron of France last week referred to the events as a “massacre” in a letter addressed to his Senegalese counterpart — the first French president to ever to describe it as such — President Bassirou Diomaye Faye had a blunt answer.