DAKAR, Senegal — A spokesman for Senegal's president says that the country is ready to offer land to Haitians who want to 'return to their origins.'

Mamadou Bamba Ndiaye, spokesman for President Abdoulaye Wade, says that the president is willing to give a region of his country to citizens of Haiti who have suffered from a devastating earthquake.

Haiti was founded by African slaves, including some believed to have come from Senegal.

Wade says if Haitians decide to come en masse he is willing to hand over a region of his country to them since this is their 'native earth.'

Ndiaye stressed that the president made it clear that whatever region is handed over will be a fertile one, not one in Senegal's parched deserts. (AP)