US-Haitian hip-hop artist Wyclef Jean is to run for the presidency of the troubled Caribbean island.

The island nation’s most famous son left the country when he was nine and moved to the US, but his ties to his homeland have remained strong. He founded the Yele Haiti Foundation, which has done much to ease the suffering of Haitians in the aftermath of the January earthquake.

In 2004, the ex-Fugees star released the album Sak Pasé Presents: Welcome to Haïti (Creole 101), in which most of the songs are in his native Haitian Creole language.

On January 4, 1804, Haiti threw off French colonial rule to become the first free black republic in the world, and the second independent state in the western hemisphere. Its subsequent history has been tragic, and whoever the next president is will have an onerous job on their hands. Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas, a situation compounded by the devastating earthquake that hit the country. If Jean does make his international stardom translate into ballot box turnout in a nation where only 10% of those eligible to vote did so last time round, he will have one of the toughest political posts on the planet.

http://wyclefjean.wordpress.com/

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Tags: haiti, haitian president, wyclef jean