In Senegal, history lessons on the Thiaroye massacre will be added to the school curriculum

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00:00Here in Tiaroy, commemorative events have been unfolding to mark 80 years since the

00:05Tiaroy Massacre, a dark event in France's colonial history, in which the Senegalese

00:11Tireya, a group of infantry from across West Africa, were killed here in a camp just down

00:17the road.

00:18This morning, President Diomay Faye came to lay a wreath here at the cemetery, a mostly

00:23symbolic cemetery, as it's still not known how many people were killed in this event

00:27and where they are buried.

00:29Signatories then moved on to the camp where the massacre itself unfolded on this day 80

00:34years ago, and six heads of state were present, as well as ambassadors, diplomats and members

00:40of civil society.

00:42One of the first speakers was Mamadou Diop, who heads up the Commission of Inquiry into

00:46what happened all those years ago, as the facts are still unclear and there has been

00:51some silencing of the truth, as he said.

00:54He called it a racist and violent period of history.

00:58Even the foreign minister from France himself acknowledged what had happened before President

01:04Diomay Faye closed the ceremony, acknowledging also the role that the Senegalese Tireya had

01:10in supporting freedom and liberation across Europe, but also he announced some important

01:15measures here in Senegal to make sure that people keep this massacre in their memory,

01:20including a memorial and also introducing the Tiaroy Massacre into the curriculum starting

01:26next year.

01:28It really hurts.

01:29We don't really know the story because it was our grandparents' time.

01:33But when it's told to us, it really breaks our hearts, especially with what France has

01:37done.

01:39I'm very happy they decided to introduce this story into the school curriculum because children

01:43need to learn it.

01:45As the older generation, we can't explain everything to them, but teachers can.

01:49They'll have to educate them about it and then the story will be known for generations.

01:55These people are not here anymore, but their children are still here.

01:59Now that France has acknowledged it was a massacre, they have to give the fight a recognition

02:05and reparations to the family.

02:10This was the first and largest commemoration of its kind for the anniversary of the Tiaroy

02:16Massacre.

02:17There was also a sentimental tone.

02:18There were poems read, songs sung and homage paid really to these West African troops who

02:24lost their lives all those years ago but have been mostly forgotten by history.

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