EU migrant crisis: Egyptian billionaire approaches Greek island owners with offer to buy land for refugees

An Egyptian billionaire has approached the owners of two Greek islands with an offer to buy their land as space to accommodate desperate refugees fleeing conflicts and oppression. Negotiations will begin when the owners can acquire the approval of the Greek government to host the maximum number of refugees allowable according to Greek laws.

Naguib Sawiris is an Egyptian billionaire businessman

Naguib Sawiris first put forward the "crazy idea" of buying an island to temporarily house refugees on his Twitter account. The tycoon has since revealed on Twitter that his plan is coming to fruition, and has urged volunteers to come forward.

When asked whether his plan 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."

The 61-year-old, who is worth an estimated $2.9billion, later named the proposed space “Aylan Island”, in memory of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi, whose lifeless body was found on the shore of a Turkish island after he attempted to cross to Greece with his family.

North African boat people arriving in Sicily, Italy in the Mediterranean Sea

Sawiris is willing to spend up to $200million on buying land to house refugees, and has been inundated with around 10,000 emails from supporters, many of whom have offered to help him carry out his plan.

Refugees from Syria, a country torn apart by civil war

Hitting back at critics, he said,

“If you have a better idea, you are welcome. The rule in my corporate world, anybody who criticised my solution and does not have any better solution, I would tell them to shut up.”

(All images - credit: Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licence)