The Nation Newspaper Senegal ex-rifleman to carry Paris 2024 Olympic torch
At over 90 years old, former Senegalese rifleman Oumar Dieme considers it something of a miracle that he will be carrying theIn the shade of mango and silk-cotton trees, he recounts his time in the “Senegalese tirailleurs” – a corps of African infantrymen who fought for France during the two world wars and various decolonization struggles.
Dieme explained that some 20 men from his village of Badiana in the southern Casamance region served in the Senegalese Tirailleurs corps until it was disbanded in the 1960s.“I’m the only survivor. It was a miracle that I was chosen,” he recounted, surrounded by family members and crumbling buildings.
“The choice of Oumar Dieme contributes to the essential work of remembrance, because the Senegalese riflemen have been forgotten for too long in our collective memory,” Stephane Troussel, president of the Seine-Saint-Denis department, told AFP.“Given my age, I would like to be accompanied by my son,” he said.
Recruiters gave Dieme the birth date of 31 December, 1932, making him 20 at the time, but he thinks he is at least two years older. Dieme later settled in Bondy, northeastern Paris, where he and other former riflemen faced another battle, this time with the French state. Dieme’s opportunity to carry the Olympic torch is testament to the efforts of Aissata Seck, a local councillor in Bondy and president of a group commemorating the tirailleurs.
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