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(19-01-10)
International Repatriation
Senegal
offers land to haitians that want to come
(The
Associated Press) DAKAR, Senegal
>
Senegal is offering free land to Haitians wishing to
"return to their origins" following this week's devastating
earthquake, which has destroyed the capital and buried thousands
of people beneath rubble.
>
Senegal's octogenarian President Abdoulaye Wade told
a meeting of his advisers that haitians are the sons and
daughters of Africa, because the country was founded by
slaves, including some believed to have come from Senegal.
>
"The
president is offering voluntary Repatriation to any Haitian
that wants to return to their origin," said Wade's
spokesman Mamadou Bemba Ndiaye late Saturday
following the president's announcement.
>
"Senegal
is ready to offer them parcels of land - even an entire region.
It all depends on how many haitians come. If it's just a few
individuals, then we will likely offer them housing or small
pieces of land. If they come en masse we are ready to give them
a region," he said.
>
He
stressed that Wade had insisted that if a region is
handed over it should be in a fertile area - not in the
country's parched deserts.
>
Senegal, a nation of 14 million roughly the size of
South Dakota, is considered one of the most stable and
developed in the sub-region. Still nearly half of working-age
adults are unemployed and the country has been burdened by high
food prices, frequent blackouts and spiraling energy costs.
>
Many
have criticized Wade for being a dreamer, proposing lofty
projects that do little to alleviate poverty or address endemic
corruption. Others see him as a statesman who dares to have a
vision for Africa.
Most Right Honourable Prophet John Marcus Mosiah Garvey
I Selassie I JaH Ras Tafari !
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