France to open two refugee centres

France will open two centres for refugees as part of plan to better receive thousands of asylum seekers who fled war and poverty in their native countries, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said Tuesday.

Hidalgo pledged to open the first centre in mid-October in the 18th district of French capital. With an initial capacity of 400 people, the centre will be reserved for men.

The second centre will welcome women, children and vulnerable individuals. It will be opened by the year-end in the southern Paris suburb of Ivry-sur-Seine, according to the mayor.

Hidalgo said that the project will cost a total of 6.5 million euros (about 7.3 million U.S. dollars) with 80 percent of which will be financed by the City of Paris.

"We are acting with humanity and it is our duty. We had to invent new measures to move beyond a situation of saturation of camps," Hidalgo said.

France promises to receive 30,000 refugees over the next two years.

A year ago, European leaders agreed on the EU proposal to redistribute 160,000 refugees across European states in order to help struggling Greece to cope with chaotic flows of migrants at its doors.

Escalating wars in Syria and Iraq, adding to persistent political instability in many African countries and in the Middle East, forced millions of people to risk their lives by boarding rickety boats to seek better life on the other Mediterranean rim. (1 euro = 1.12 U.S. dollars) Endit