Diego Suarez Military Cemetery

The Diego Suarez Military Cemetery in Madagascar contains the tombs of 921 French, European and local soldiers, who were buried there between the end of the 19^th century and the 1960s.

The French National Necropolis in Diego Suarez, Madagascar, bears witness to sixty-five years of shared Franco-Malagasy history between 1895, date of the island’s colonisation, and 1960, date of its independence.

It is located on the edge of the town, at the centre of the municipal cemetery, along Boulevard Dupleix. It contains 921 graves of soldiers in three sections: French, European and local. These men died between the end of the 19^th century and the 1960s.

One hundred and forty-nine graves were added to the local section, alongside the civilian cemetery. Furthermore, there is a burial vault where Legionnaires are buried. A monument to the dead – “A la mémoire glorieuse des enfants de Diégo-Suarez morts pour la France” (To the glorious memory of the children of Diego Suarez who died for France) welcomes visitors at the entrance to the military section. Another, in the form of an arch, is a reminder of the fighting to liberate the island during WWII.

Within a 35-km radius around Diego Suarez, 1,664 more military tombs have been laid out at the cemeteries of Cap Diego (1,411 tombs), Anjianema (157), Joffreville (51) and Sakaramy (25). A project for grouping together the French graves in the region at a single site is under study.
The Consulate General of France in Diego Suarez manages and maintains the site thanks to an annual budgetary allocation from the Ministry of Defence.

French Embassy in Antananarivo

3, rue Jean-Jaurès Ambatomena - BP 204

Tel.: (261) (20) 22 398 98

Fax: (261) (20) 22 399 27

Website: www.ambafrance-mada.org

Consulate General of France in Antananarivo

3, rue Jean-Jaurès Ambatomena - BP 897

Tel.: (261) (20) 22 398 50

Fax: (261) (20) 22 399 84

Website: www.consulfrance-tananarive.org

Department of Cooperation and Cultural Actions

BO 834 Antananarivo

Tel.: (20) 22 397 97

Fax: (20) 22 398 97

e-mail: coopfran@dts.mg

Consul General of France in Diego Suarez

Rue Benyowski - BP 220

Tel.: (261) (20) (82) 213 39 - 210 43

Fax: (261) (20) (82) 293 54