Senegal offers land to Haitians | Hacker News Reader

Senegal offers land to Haitians

news.bbc.co.uk

32 pointsnice113 comments

It certainly seems like a good gesture, but I have to wonder where this land (possibly an entire region) would come from. That is, is there really that much un-owned fertile land in Senegal? Would the government buy the land from existing land-owners, and would the land-owners have a right to refuse? I have no idea how it works when a modern country decides to offer land to people (as opposed to back in the old days of the US, when you could take whatever land you wanted provided the only occupants were American Indians). I kind of wish this article would answer those questions for me.

I have to wonder where this land (possibly an entire region) would come from

Being a cynical bastard, my guess would be Casamance. There's a separatist movement down there with close ties to Gambia, so the Senegalese government's probably trying to dilute their influence by diluting their demographics --- bringing in Francophone immigrants who are completely clueless about local society (and thus dependent on the central government at first).

Ironically this is the same strategy that Rafael Trujillo used to strengthen the Dominican Republic's border with Haiti back in his day. [1]

[1] E.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_settlement_in_the_Domi...

I doubt it. Casamance is the most fertile part of the region, but unless Haitian are used to working the land, it will not work so well for them. There is plenty of land in Senegal. There are only 2 problems: 1) If you want to live near the beach, then you have to move 30-45 minutes outside the capital, 2) There is not much infrastructure inland to accelerate growth for a newly formed region.

The government would not need to buy the land. There is a lot of land to given away. The only problem is that it will have to be about 25 minutes outside the capital (where houses cost between 160k-200k USD). I do not see them giving land anywhere within the capital, but if you are willing to make a 30-45 minute commute than you will end up with a nice piece of land, near the ocean.

...just in case Haitians wanted to move to an even poorer country. (They rank 149th and 166th, respectively.)

Also, flagged. This story itself seems to be the political equivalent of link-baiting.

That sounds very admirable, and if there is a mass move of Haitians to Senegal, I hope it works out. I don't know much about Senegal but a quick look through the Wikipedia article on it shows that it's a progressing country, albeit with much problems to solve, it seems to be heading in the right direction.

That's pretty absurd. Senegal doesn't have that much fertile land and what it has is densely populated. Haitians on the other hand do have land. I don't see how that offer solves any problem.

Take Arizona, it is not fertile, but Phoenix is one of the fastest growing city in the States. If the land is not fertile it helps in some way, because you have to find different ways to survive. Welcome innovation.

A great gesture by Senegal, In the age where countries are killing innocents over Land, there is a country in this world which is voluntarily donating land. I personally think Israel should learn a thing or two from Senegal and put an end to Mid-eastern crises.

Deleted comment

Up until recently I think the country was politically stable. It still is in some ways. The only issue is that the population at large is not happy with the president and his son who supposedly wants a piece of every major business in the country. But overall it is rather peaceful place, and given the way Muslim (95%)and Christians respect each other, I think Israel can learn a "thing or two".

For other examples of incendiary politics, see:

  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28615688/

I don't have a problem with anyone disagreeing with the statement you're disagreeing with. But I find it really troubling that the first response to it is to flag it. I have seen people on hacker news regularly discuss whether or not there is global warming, whether or not HIV causes AIDS, and whether or not men are genetically more likely to be geniuses than women, each subject which has the potential to offend any number of people. Given what hacker news is, I don't see why Israel should be such a taboo subject. I don't see why it is better to flag than to refute.

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