Their passports say they are nationals of T&T, but Africa is where they would rather be.

Jamaicans call them bobo dreds, but in Trinidad we know them as Bobo Shantis.

The Bobo Shanti movement was founded in 1958 in Spanish Town, Jamaica, by King Emmanuel Charles Edwards known by followers as "The Black Christ." The head office is in Jamaica and Edwards, though dead, is still considered their spiritual leader.

The organization has expanded over the years and now boasts of branches in the Bahamas, Virgin Islands, Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Trinidad. The Trinidad branch is in Wharf Trace, St Joseph.

In Trinidad, it's easy to spot a Bobo Shanti in a crowd. They walk around looking like royalty in their brightly-coloured turbans and floor-sweeping robes.

Their unique dress and constant reference to Africa in ordinary speech is the Bobo Shanti way of telling Trinidad "We're just passing through."

Andre Romero, 38, a priest, said; "I and I [the Bobo Shanti movement] is a continuation of Marcus Garvey work of Africa for the Africans, because we could not give away a continent for an island."

Romero is a member of the T&T branch of the Ethiopia Africa Black International Congress.

Marcus Garvey, the late Jamaican political activist, advocated the formation of an African homeland for Black Americans. The Black nationalist leader later founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and his thinking has influenced the growth of the Rastafarian movement.

The Bobo Shanti movement is bent on fulfilling Garvey's dream.

At the core is the dream of repatriation or going back to one's homeland.

"You have to remember land perpetuates life and Black people are out of doors," said Romero.

"I and I was illegally taken from Ethiopia within the 19^th century and, up to this day, we have not received any justice from the slave trade."

The issue of getting justice for atrocities committed during slavery has been taken up by international leaders. In London, for example, Bernie Grant, the Black Labour MP for Tottenham, (in north London), has been a fierce advocate for reparation.

For the Bobo Shantis, however, justice is about breaking away from western society and going back to Mother Africa.

"Reparation would suffice after repatriation," Romero said. "That is the words of our honourable high priest [Emmanuel]."

Romero said King Emmanuel once told his followers that reparation should be channeled through the Ethiopian Bank since the head office of the Organization of African Union (OAU) is in Ethiopia.

The West Indies, Romero argues, is for its original inhabitants - Amerindians.

"Just as how Africa is climatically and geographically created for Black people, down here is climatically and geographically created for the Arawak Indians."

Romero said Black supremacy was not racist and should not be lumped with white supremacy groups like the Ku Klux Klan.

"White supremacy holds that anything that is not white you get rid of it. But Black supremacy come for equality and justice for one and all.

"In white supremacy you have place for no brown, black or yellow. Black supremacy come with equality and justice, truth and right, and love and life.

"Before even white people came, Black people used to be governing this world. History and prophecy will record this."

The Bobo Shanti movement in Trinidad began in 1977 through a Trinidadian, the late Imsley Payne. Payne brought the ideology to Trinidad after visiting the congress headquarters in Jamaica.

The movement in Trinidad is about 2,000-strong, and like the Christian church, is not without schism. There are at least two breakaway Bobo Shanti groups.

Bobo Shantis belong to just one of the Rastafarian groups in the country.

The main differences between the Bobo Shantis and other Rasta groups are: Bobo Shantis fly their red, gold and green flag with the red on top. Others are flying theirs "upside down." Bobo Shantis keep the Sabbath, wear the robe and turban, and observe the ten commandments.

Women in the church wear clothes down to their ankles and cover their heads. Bobo Shanti women also keep a 21-day "purification principle' related to their menstrual cycle. This limits the number of days woemn can interact with men and are allowed to enter the tabernacle and participate in ceremonies.

Romero recognizes reggae icon Sizzla as a bona fide Bobo Shanti but says Sizzla is no high priest, merely a prophet.

Conscious reggae has come to be associated with Rasta and Bobo Shanti worship.

Romero said he was at the Bobo Shanti headquarters in Jamaica some years ago when Capleton and other reggae artistes visited King Emmanuel.

"The father showed them that their words and lyrics are right, but it's not divine. The beat too fast.

"Reggae is a Jamaican culture. These artistes come and they hear the priest and the culturing and preaching and they will take what they hear from the priest and go and put it in a reggae beat."

On November 2, the congress will hold a golden coronation banquet to mark the 65^th anniversary of the coronation of the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I and Empress Menen. This will be held at the St Joseph office, Wharf Trace, Maracas Valley. The public is invited and asked to dress in something yellow.

The congress hopes to get all the Rasta groups in the country for a conference next year to discuss repatriation and other issues concerning the faith.

Romero said: "For them to hear the Rastaman, all of us have to come under one voice."