Naguib Sawiris, Egyptian Billionaire Offers To Buy An Island To Rehouse Syrian Refugees

Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, chairman of Orascom TMT Holding, speaks during the Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC) in Sharm el-Sheikh, in the South Sinai governorate, south of Cairo, March 14, 2015. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, chairman of Orascom TMT Holding, speaks during the Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC) in Sharm el-Sheikh, in the South Sinai governorate, south of Cairo, March 14, 2015. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

In a television interview Swairis said he would approach the governments of Greece and Italy, saying there would be “temporary shelters to house the people, then you start employing the people to build housing, schools, universities, hospitals.

“And if things improve, whoever wants to go back (to their homeland) goes back.”

But he admitted his plan could face challenges, such as figuring out jurisdiction and customs regulations.

Swairis said the important thing is the migrants will be treated like “human beings.”

“The way they are being treated now, they are being treated like cattle,” he said.

When pictures surfaced of a three-year-old boy’s body lying face-down on the beach, it ignited an outcry around the world.

The Syrian boy, Aylan Kurdi, was one of 12 refugees who drowned when their boat sunk before reaching the Greek island of Kos. Thousands of migrants have died trying to reach Europe by sea this year.

Twelve bodies, five of which were children, were recovered. Nine of the 23 people on board the two boats were said to have survived.

However, it was the image of the three-year-old lying face down on the shore that tugged at the heart strings of people worldwide.

At the same time hundreds of migrants were stopped from boarding trains in Budapest, Hungary, in a two-day stand-off with authorities.

The number of migrants that have entered Europe this year from Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan, have reached record levels, with Germany expecting to take in a staggering 800 000 refugees.

This large increase in asylum seekers has created tension in the European Union, as other countries are not as willing to accept refugees as Germany is.

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Source: Wikimedia Commons

2 Responses to Naguib Sawiris, Egyptian Billionaire Offers To Buy An Island To Rehouse Syrian Refugees

  1. UponFurtherReview September 4, 2015 at 3:10 am

    Do it. That’s not too far off from how Australia got started.

    Reply
  2. Daniel Blaney September 4, 2015 at 3:10 am

    At face value this sounds like a good idea, but be wary of any obscenely rig individual who wants a stake in creating a new country. If this is a thinly veiled new source of income for the billionaire, then other eyes need to ensure that this is really a temporary situation that is in the migrants’ best interest and not just a way to bleed them dry of all their worth.

    Reply

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