The march to war was a common West African colonial experience. While the Senegalese fought for the French side of World War II, Gambians, including President Barrow’s maternal grandfather fought for the British in Burma, as part of The Gambia Regiment. The answer to the same call was not out of choice but forceful defence of colonial empires.
President Barrow recalled that “like other nations, The Gambia paid the price of participating in the past colonial wars. We sent our young men to fight in foreign lands for promises that were never kept. So, we are not here as distant observers. We are affected and concerned victims who stand in solidarity with the descendants of the Senegalese Infantry.
The President extends his solidarity with the descendants of the Thiaroye Massacre victims with assurances “that we recognize your fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers as heroes. They were men of courage and honour who faced grave hardships with dignity. Bravely, they demanded what was rightfully theirs and never lost their humanity.”
Learning from the lessons of the past, President Barrow envisages a resilient and “dignified Africa that stands tall in the community of nations; a resilient Africa that controls its resources and provides ample opportunities and prosperity for its youth. Through unity, self-determination, industrialization, Africa must now rise higher to fully develop its human capital.”
As part of the ceremony, President Barrow laid a wreath in honour of the fallen gallant “Tirailleurs Sénégalais” at the Thiaroye Military Camp.
On 1st December 1944, war veterans from the then French West Africa became victims of a massacre at the Thiaroyede mobilisation camp near Dakar, Senegal, while awaiting due compensation for active participation in World War II liberation of Europe. The number of causalities is still an going subject of historical research as President Barrow alluded to in his call for an honest historical teaching of the past.
Significantly, the history of the Thiaroye massacre is memorialized in the 1988 film “Camp de Thiaroye” by late Senegalese filmmaker, Sembène Ousmane. (Source: State House)
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