Olympic flame stops at UN refugee camp in Athens

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"2">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>The Olympic flame has made a symbolic stop at a United Nations-run refugee camp in Athens as part of its 106-day journey from the Games&&num;8217&semi; ancient birthplace in southern Greece to Rio de Janeiro&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The torch was carried by 27-year-old Syrian refugee Ibrahim Hussein&comma; who ran with a prosthetic limb fitted below his right knee&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;This is such an honour for me&period; This is for every Syrian and every Arab who has gone through so much&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Mr Hussein said afterwards&comma; following chaotic scenes at the camp as he was surrounded by cameramen and refugees using smartphones to take photos and selfies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;My message to them is not just to stay in refugee camps and to do nothing&comma; but to go after their dream&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>International Olympic Committee &lpar;IOC&rpar; president Thomas Bach visited the Athens camp in January to promote a refugee sports programme&comma; aimed at identifying elite competitors who can qualify for a refugee team to compete in the Rio Games&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If they had a home&comma; refugees would belong to the world&&num;8217&semi;s 24th most populous nation&comma; just behind Italy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A team of five to 10 athletes is scheduled to be selected by the IOC in early June&period; The refugee team will march behind the Olympic flag at the opening ceremony on August 5&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>At the camp&comma; Guinean refugee Sekou Sanogo played football with friends and said he was happy to see the torch relay pass through&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;I think it&&num;8217&semi;s a good thing&comma;&&num;8221&semi; he said&period; &&num;8220&semi;There are so many journalists here &&num;8211&semi; I hope it will help us&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Greece has been hard hit by the migration crisis that escalated dramatically in 2015&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>More than one million people have travelled in dinghies and mostly unsafe boats from Turkey to the Greek islands&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>More than 50&comma;000 remain trapped here after European countries imposed strict border controls&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Katerina Kitidi&comma; from the UN refugee agency in Greece&comma; welcomed Mr Bach&&num;8217&semi;s initiative&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;With a staggering 60 million people living in displacement around the world&comma; such a strong symbolic gesture aims to show solidarity to those fleeing conflict and persecution&comma;&&num;8221&semi; she said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Xenophobia and intolerance are growing in many areas&comma; and this initiative creates hope for refugees and awareness on their plight&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Rio flame was lit in Ancient Olympia&comma; the birthplace of the ancient Games in southern Greece&comma; last week&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It arrives in Brazil on May 3 and will be relayed across the vast country by about 12&comma;000 torchbearers before the opening ceremony at Rio&&num;8217&semi;s Maracana Stadium&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The flame will be handed to Rio Games organisers at a ceremony in Athens on Wednesday&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68cd467258072">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; 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