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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

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.

quant18 17y ago
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_Dominican_Republic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_settlement_in_the_Domi...
- rokhayakebe 17y ago
  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.
rokhayakebe 17y ago
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.

quant18 17y ago

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_Dominican_Republic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_settlement_in_the_Domi...

rokhayakebe 17y ago
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.

rokhayakebe 17y ago

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.