Egyptian Billionaire Wants To Buy An Island For Dying Syrian Refugees. Plans To Call It 'Hope'

Naguib Sawiris, the Egyptian billionaire and CEO of Orascom TMT, wishes to a buy an island in the Mediterranean and create it into an independent country which millions of Syrians, who have been displaced from their homes, can call their own.

africanleadership.co.uk

Sawiris expressed his want of this initiative on Twitter:

Sawiris has asked Greece or Italy to give him an island so that he can "call its independence", play host to the Syrian refugees, and help them rebuild their lives by providing them with jobs and a livelihood.

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A civil war's been raging since early 2011 and no immediate solution seems to be rising out of the horizon. Sawiris's initiative, if it goes through, can prove monumental in not only providing a safe home to all those displaced, but also save lives that are unnecessarily being lost, owing to world leaders' 'political concerns'. 

Reuters

Sawiris has approached the governments of Greece and Italy, and is beyond hopeful that his initiative will take flight. He was quoted as telling AFP: "Of course it's feasible." Because Greece and Italy have hundreds of uninhabited islands, Sawiris thinks these can definitely be used to accommodate the migrants.

An island can cost Sawiris anywhere between $10 million to $100 million, but for him, the "main thing is investment in infrastructure."

Once there are "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," said Sawiris.

Reuters

As far as the challenges go, persuading Greece and Italy, and spelling out the island's custom and jurisdiction regulations will be Sawiris's two main concerns.

Yet he is hopeful. He believes this way, the migrants will finally be treated as "human beings" because "the way they are being treated now, they are being treated like cattle."

When asked what the new country would be called, Sawiris replied 'Hope'.