Archaeologists conducting landmark excavations at the Thiaroye cemetery in Dakar, Senegal, have found clues to a WWII-era massacre of African soldiers by French colonial forces, news agency AFP reports.
The massacre in November 1944 involved soldiers from several West African countries sent to the Thiaroye camp located fifteen kilometres away from Dakar.
Discontent soon mounted over unpaid back pay and unmet demands that they be treated on a par with white soldiers. On December 1, French forces opened fire on them.
The circumstances surrounding the massacre, the number of soldiers killed, and their place of burial all remain unclear, with Senegal accusing France of hiding evidence.
Evidence of massacre
"Archaeologists found seven skeletons. This is a very important step in the search for historical truth. One skeleton contains a bullet in its left side in the location of the heart," says the director of Senegalese army's archives and historical heritage, Colonel Saliou Ngom.
"Others lack a spine, ribs or skull. Some individuals are buried with iron chains on their shins. This means they suffered violence," he adds.
The graves where the bodies are located are more recent than the remains themselves, Sall added.
"One hypothesis is that the graves were made after the (initial) burials or that it was staged to make is appear they had been properly buried," Sall said.
Undocumented remains
It is not known who exactly is in all the graves, or if there are even bodies at each marker. The researchers have so far only been able to excavate a very small percentage of them.
The cemetery was created in 1926 by colonial France to bury African soldiers. Some researchers believe that riflemen killed in the Thiaroye massacre were buried there.
Senegal alleges it was difficult to access the French colonial archives to study the massacre in full.
The archaeologists have so far carried out their initial excavations under one of two large baobabs, enormous trees that can indicate the site of buried bodies.
Premeditated crime
The researchers submitted an official report on October 16 to Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye describing the massacre as "premeditated" and covered up, with a death toll that had been grossly underestimated.
The French colonial authorities at the time of the massacre said up to 70 World War II riflemen were killed.
But the researchers said the most credible estimates put the figure closer to 300 to 400, with some of the men buried in the Thiaroye cemetery.
President Faye, who has committed to preserving the soldiers' memory, has announced he has approved "the continuation of archaeological excavations at all sites likely to contain mass graves".
In November 2024, as the atrocity's 80th anniversary approached, French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged that French colonial forces had committed a "massacre" in Thiaroye.
