Updated: 8.45pm
AN EGYPTIAN BILLIONAIRE has offered to buy an island for refugees to live on.
Naguib Sawiris, a telecommuications mogul, is Egypt’s third-richest man - according to Forbes.
He tweeted about the offer a few days ago and has now elaborated on the idea.
Sawiris told AFP: “You have dozens of islands which are deserted and could accommodate hundreds of thousands of refugees.”
An island off Greece or Italy could cost Sawiris between $10-$100 million (€9 – 90 million).
Earlier, musician and charity campaigner Bob Geldof spoke in strong terms of his disgust at the current migrant crisis in Europe.
Speaking on Mornings with Dave Fanning on RTE, Geldof described the situation as “this disgrace, this sickening fucking disgrace”.
Geldof has been involved in humanitarian work for almost 40 years, most famously with the organising of the Live Aid concerts in 1985 and the Band Aid Christmas single.
“This is a moment that will be discussed and impacted upon in 300 years time,” he said.
With a new economy there needs to be a new politics, and the failure of this new politics has led to this fucking, this disgrace, this sickening fucking disgrace.
I’ve known and you’ve known and everyone has known that the bollocks we talk about our values are complete nonsense, once it come home to roost we deny those values.
But those values are correct. We are better than this, we genuinely are.
Geldof went further and said that he is “ready and willing immediately” to take four migrant families into his own properties in Britain.
“I’m lucky, I’ve a flat in London and a place in Kent,” he said.
Me and Jeanne (Marine, his wife) would be prepared to take three families in our place in Kent immediately, and another in the flat in London until they can get going and get a purchase on their future.
- with reporting by Órla Ryan
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say