DAKAR (Reuters) – More than 160 Haitian students arrived in West Africa on Wednesday, taking up Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade’s offer of free education in the aftermath of the earthquake that devastated their nation earlier this year.
The group of 163 students landed in Dakar, Africa’s western-most city, on a Senegalese-chartered plane and were met by groups of traditional dancers and crowds of people chanting “Haiti, Haiti”, before being taken off for a ceremony.
“Your ancestors left here through the gate of no return on Goree Island,” Wade said, referring to the island off the Senegalese coast which served as a transit point for thousands of Africans shipped to the Americas during the slave trade.
“(Now) you are coming back to Africa, as free men, to come and study,” Wade added in a speech made at the foot of a statue inaugurated earlier this year and named the “African Renaissance”.
After the earthquake, which killed over 200,000 people, Wade proposed the creation of a new Africa state to resettle Haitians made homeless by the earthquake. The African Union has said it will consider the idea but no steps have been taken yet.
Senegal has long enjoyed a reputation as one of West Africa’s strongest democracies but Wade, who has been in power for a decade, is increasingly criticised for embarking on grandiose projects while many lack basic services at home.
Wade has said that Senegal will pay for the students to complete their studies at three universities across the country.
“I thank Senegal and all its people … we are very proud of you,” said a medical student who only gave her name as Sarah.
“The Haiti I left behind is being slowly rebuilt but there is still lots to do.”
