Egyptian billionaire offers to buy island for refugees

Syria’s brutal conflict, now in its fifth year, has touched off the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time. (UNRWA via AP)

Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, telecom tycoon and owner of an Egyptian TV channel, has offered to buy an island off the shores of Greece or Italy and develop it to help thousands of refugees.

He first wrote on Twitter, “Greece or Italy sell me an island, I’ll call its independence and host the migrants and provide jobs for them building their new country”

Then he announced his plans on TV, in a n interview, saying he’s planning to approach governments of both countries about his plans. According to him, they have a large number of inhabited islands which could house these refugees.

He conceded such a plan could face challenges, including the likely difficulty of persuading Greece or Italy to sell an island, and figuring out jurisdiction and customs regulations.

But he believes that being treated as “human beings” in this society is better than being treated as “cattle”. The price could range from 10$ million to 100$ million dollars, but he sees that as soon as there’s people to build houses, hospitals, schools and other types of infrastructure, it would be better for them.