Senegal - Promise remembered, kept: Nation takes in Haitian earthquake survivors

DAKAR, Senegal (CMC):

In honouring a promise to provide a home for Haitians badly affected by the January 12 earthquake, Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade, was expected yesterday to dispatch a plane to the impoverished, French-speaking Caribbean country to pick up a number of Haitian students.

Mamadou Seye, a spokesman for the Senegalese Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, said Wade has chartered a private plane to pick up 160 students from Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital. They will be the first batch of Haitians to arrive in Senegal.

Wade had told the United Nations General Assembly debate in September that Haitian families affected by the massive earthquake will be invited to Senegal next year.

The Senagalese president considered the Haitians to be Africa's brothers and sisters since their ancestors were taken to the Caribbean as slaves. Senegal and Haiti are former French colonial countries.

Seye said the first plane will leave Dakar, the Senegalese capital, on Sunday morning and return on Wednesday.

He said Haitian President Rene Preval and his wife will accompany the students.

Haitian officials said 300,000 people were killed and 1.3 million left homeless by the catastrophic earthquake.