On 1 December 1944, more than 400 ‘tirailleurs’ (Senegalese riflemen) were killed by French colonial troops. Although Emmanuel Macron has acknowledged their deaths as a ‘massacre’, the battle of memory between France and Senegal is far from over.

Those who died were part of the Tirailleurs Senegalais unit, recruited at the start of World War Two to help defend France, the colonial power. On returning to Senegal in 1944 man

Senegal on Sunday commemorated 80 years since the killing of dozens of African troops by French forces that the former colonial master acknowledged this week had been a "massacre".

Senegal on Sunday (December 1) commemorated the 80th anniversary of a massacre of African soldiers who fought for France during World War Two, and were gunned down by French troops in 1944 for demanding fair treatment and payment on their return.

On Senegal marks the 80th anniversary of the Thiaroye massacre. French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday (November 28) for the first time recognized the killing of West African soldiers by the French Army in 1944 as a massacre in a letter addressed to the Senegalese authorities.