Senegal-Haiti-Senegal

In an interesting and largely unprecedented move Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade has offered any Haitians affected by the recent earthquake repatriation to Senegal. He argues that Haiti's slave descendants hold ancestral roots in Africa and many could be from Senegal. His country is offering to reconnect Haitian's with their ancestral homeland and is offering housing and land based on the number of Haitian's that seek a new home in Senegal. Senegal is apparently ready to offer an entire region of fertile land if Haitian's move there in large numbers.

With people fleeing the capital region of Haiti homeless, will they seek new lives in Senegal? Is Senegal going to actively transport Haitian's back to Africa, or will it be up to them to find their own way? Its hard to believe that Senegal's offer is very realistic without any sort of action plan from either side. Though I wouldn't hesitate to say if it could be done it could probably be a profitable move for both countries, creating stronger ties, potentially encouraging trade between the two underdeveloped countries.

Still the question remains where does the historical precedent for this lie? Many countries have repatriation laws, most famously the Law of Return that allows any Jews the legal right to settle in Israel. However, most of these laws are in European countries aside from Armenia, China, Japan and the Philippines and no African country has ever called for the Repatriation of blacks in America. Rastafarian's, in their Pan-African ideology, call for the repatriation of all Black Americans to Africa, as one of their most important beliefs and causes. Aside from this, I cannot find any significant historical precedent for African American's being repatriated to their original continent.

A side note, possibly one of the most interesting points about the whole situation is the fact that the dominant religion of Senegal is Islam, practiced by over 95% of the population. Haitians are a unique country who are 80% Christians while about half of the population maintains a belief in Vodou. It's hard to tell if Senegal's President has other motives behind his offer of harbouring Haitians.

Senegal offers land to Haitians.