France, March 28 -- A military cemetery near Lyon, where nearly 200 West African soldiers who fought for France in World War II are buried, has reopened after being desecrated earlier this year - and despite ongoing controversy over the identification of some of the dead.

France's junior defence minister, Patricia Miralles, led the reopening ceremony on Friday at the Tata Necropolis in Chasselay. The cemetery was vandalised in January, prompting its temporary closure for repairs.

The site honours the tirailleurs senegalais (Senegalese riflemen), who were captured and massacred by the Germans in June 1940.

But the solemn event has been overshadowed by serious allegations from a historian who says some of the names on the soldiers' plaqu...