The first excavation of a cemetery at the former military camp outside Dakar where French soldiers massacred African troops who had fought in WWII has unveiled skeletons with bullets, a source told AFP Wednesday.
The excavations have been under way since early May at the Thiaroye military camp, and are meant to shed light on the 1944 incident, when at least dozens of African soldiers who had fought for France protested against pay delays and were killed.
The episode marks one of the worst massacres during French colonial rule, and questions remain concerning the number of soldiers killed, their identities and the location of their burial.
While French authorities at the time said 35 had been killed, historians say the real death toll could be as high as 400.
“Human skeletons were discovered with bullets in their bodies, some in the chest,” the source close to the matter told AFP, adding that the bullets were of different calibres.
The discoveries come with only a small section of the cemetery excavated, the source said.
A ballistics assessment will help determine the type of bullets and weapons used, while DNA analysis can aid in identifying individuals buried at the site, the source said.
Around 1,600 soldiers from West Africa arrived at the Thiaroye camp in November 1944, having been captured by Germany while fighting for France.
Discontent soon mounted over unpaid wages and demands to be treated on a par with white soldiers. Some protesters refused to return to their home countries without their due.
The French forces opened fire on December 1 of that year.
Researchers have long called for excavations at the Thiaroye cemetery and the nearby military camp.
In February, the Senegalese government, which accuses France of withholding archival documents that would shed light on the death toll, announced the excavations as a means to “uncover the whole truth.”
Last November, France acknowledged the massacre the day before commemoration of its 80th anniversary, which Senegal marked on an unprecedented scale.
