Haitians seek resettlement
2010-02-01 19:06
Special Report
There is not much left of the city's numerous churches, beside crosses and the occasional surviving stained glass window...
Addis Ababa - Fifty Haitians have sought resettlement in Senegal after last month's powerful earthquake that devastated the Caribbean nation, President Abdoulaye Wade said on Monday.
"Haitians want to come to Africa. Twenty five of them have registered at our consulate in Kingston, Jamaica and 25 others over the internet," said Wade.
"Of course we have to vet them before accepting them," he said at the sidelines of an African Union summit in Addis Ababa.
Wade last month urged African states to accept Haitians affected by the January 12 quake that killed 170 000 people.
"My proposal is therefore not unrealistic. They have a right to return to Africa, their original land. They were colonised by the Americans.
We will find them land," he said in reference to his January 17 comment.
"What is happening in Haiti is a tragedy that transcends borders. Africa being the original land of these devastated Haitians, it has the foremost concern."
AU commission chief Jean Ping on Sunday told the opening of the bloc's 14th summit that Wade's proposal would be discussed.
- SAPA
