A group of global scholastic and writers have composed an open letter to Nicolas Sarkozy, the french president, approaching France to repay the devastating “independence debt”, currently valued at £14bn, forced on Haiti by France almost 200 years prior.

The draft to the president of France states that the money would cover the remaking of the nation after an overwhelming quake that saw more than 250,000 individuals seven months back.

Its signatories, which incorporate; Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Cornel West, and a few prestigious French savants, insist that if France reimburses the cash, it would be an answer for the deficiency in global funds guaranteed by the universal community following the earthquake. Out of £3.4bn, just five nations Estonia, Australia, Brazil, Norway and Colombia, have sent guide adding up to almost £325m.

The amount owed by the French government dates to when Haiti was still called St Dominique and was France’s most productive state due to slavery. The slaves revolted in 1791, and in 1804, subsequent to vanquishing Napoleon’s strengths, gaining independence. But after independence, French slave proprietors requested remuneration.