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Egyptian billionaire offers to provide shelter to Syrian refugees

Naguib Sawiris, a member of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria — the largest Christian church in the Middle East — and Chairman of Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding S.A.E., wants to buy an island to build temporary shelters for the refugees.

Sawiris, whose fortune and net worth exceed $3 billion as of 2015, announced his proposal on Twitter saying he wants an island that will host the migrants.

“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,” he said on his Twitter page.

Sawiris, who holds a diploma in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters in Technical Administration, plans to talk to the leaders of Greece or Italy to secure the island where he will build houses for migrants.

Asked by AFP whether he believed it could work, he said: “Of course it’s feasible.”

“You have dozens of islands which are deserted and could accommodate hundreds of thousands of refugees,” he said.

Sawiris took note of the way the migrants are being treated. He said they will be treated as “human beings” in the shelters. “The way they are being treated now, they are being treated like cattle,” he added.

More than 2,000 refugees are crossing the Hungarian border to Austria to seek temporary shelter and provisions. Germany has joined Austria in an effort to accommodate the Syrian refugees who were planning to cross the border on foot.

Without clearance from Austrian authorities, private drivers from Austria are talking about using their vehicles to fetch the refugees from Hungary so they won’t have to travel on foot to the Austrian border.

Hungary had to turn down additional refugees for economic reasons as the country has limited resources.

While Austria and Germany have expressed apprehension about the legal implications of allowing refugees to their countries, it appears that they will provide temporary shelter and food for humanitarian reasons.

Still, thousands of refugees are expected to follow soon and it would prove too difficult for Germany and Austria to deal with them.

Eventually the next batch of refugees will need new settlements and the Sawiris proposal to build shelters on the island near Greece or Italy would address the influx of more migrants.

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