It was a Friday afternoon in early January when a phone call changed the lives of two young men forever. "Marheba el salam aleech. This is the Naturalisation and Residency Department in Abu Dhabi. We want the children and their passports."
Looking back, Zuha Al Mousa recalls that she nearly decided not to take the call because she did not recognise the number on her caller ID.
Eventually she picked up the phone, with the voice at the other end of the line telling Mrs Al Mousa that her children at last were to become Emirati citizens.
Married to a man from another Gulf country, Mrs Al Mousa, who works in a senior position for a Government entity, was just one of thousands of women in her position; born Emirati but unable to pass on UAE citizenship to their children.
Then, last December, as the nation celebrated its 40th anniversary, came the announcement from Sheikh Khalifa, President of the UAE. Like men married to non-Emirati women, mothers could now pass on their citizenship to their children if their husbands were foreigners.
For the Al Mousa family, there was no time to wait. Her two eldest sons, both born and raised in Abu Dhabi, were studying for their bachelor degrees at Edinburgh University, nearly 6,000 kilometres away in Scotland.
"I immediately called my children, put them on the first plane and within 24 hours they were here," Mrs Al Moussa says. "They arrived early Sunday morning."
The speed and efficiency with which the Government has followed up the promise in the December decree both surprised and impressed all those affected by it.
After Sheikh Khalifa's announcement, a committee was set up under Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, the Minister of Presidential Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister, to decide who should be included in the new citizenship rules and then take swift action.
Over the next few weeks, the committee, headed by Ahmed Juma Al Za'abi, and including representatives of the Presidential Affairs ministry, the Ministry of the Interior and the State Security Service, held a series of meetings and even travelled abroad to get an exact number of children affected by the decree.
On December 31 last year, the committee gathered for a crucial meeting at the Presidential Palace in Abu Dhabi. The result was a list of 1,117 names of children of Emirati mothers married to foreign fathers. With the approval of Sheikh Khalifa, all were to be granted UAE citizenship.
In January, Mrs Al Mousa's children were interviewed by the Naturalisation and Residency Department, handing over all the paperwork and documents needed to issue them with citizenship and a UAE passport.
Then came that fateful Friday phone call. Across the country, dozens of other families were also getting the same good news.
Finally, earlier this month in a ceremony shown on national TV, their children were handed their passports and welcomed as citizens of the UAE.
For Mrs Al Mousa, the ceremony marked the end of an issue that her children had always found to difficult to understand. "What was emotionally bothering me personally was how they always used to ask about it," she says, adding that her children would say: "We are born here, we are your children, this is our country. "
Mrs Al Mousa recalls telling them: "You are the children of a daughter of the Emirates, yes, but not on paper."
Dr Jamila Suliman Khanji, another Emirati woman married to a foreigner, says that the ineligibility of her children to be citizens "didn't really affect them as much as it affected me".
Dr Khanji, an adviser at the Family Development Foundation in Abu Dhabi says: "I was worried as a mother; because I wanted them to be as much a part of this dear country as others. You always want the best for your children. I wanted them to have the same opportunities like everyone else."
Some of Dr Khanji's sons and daughters are studying, while others are now working, but she says that "a better materialistic opportunity was not my main worry for them. I want them to be part of this country, only because they do feel they belong to it. Belonging is very important to the formation of a human and it is a psychological need."
Mrs Al Mousa says when her children were younger, the only answer she could think of to the question 'where are we from?' was: "We are Emiratis."
It was only when they were older and saw their names on passports from another country that they realised otherwise, she says.
"Their memories are the same memories of every Emirati child; playing in the different neighbourhoods, the Corniche of Abu Dhabi, the schools, all the National Day celebrations, the love of Zayed, the story of love to the only country they know."
Since getting citizenship, she says her children "feel more settled and confident and already have a plan of what to do and where to work".
Before the announcement, Mrs Al Mousa says she even considered that there might be more opportunities for her sons if they worked abroad, even if her eldest always insisted that he would return to Abu Dhabi.
"He feels more part of society, he is more concerned to come back faster," she says. "He keeps saying: 'I want to add value, I have ideas and capabilities'."
Dr Al Khanji says she is happy that her children, and those in similar circumstances have been given the chance to participate more fully in the country of their birth. At the same time, she says her children never experienced any negativity about their old status, such as bullying at school.
"We in the UAE practise a high level of humanity values and people are very kind and open minded," she says.
One of the recommendations of the committee is that children born to a foreign father should wait until they are 18, and legally adults, before choosing their nationality.
Dr Al Khanji says that this was a "wise decision" adding: "They gave the young man or women the responsibility of deciding. Then, if he or she has different plans for their life, there are no obligations." In some cases children born to Emirati mothers are now living in their father's country.
Such children, says Dr Al Khanji, may not experience the culture, traditions and values of UAE culture. "I think for a person to be an Emirati, they have to be involved as any son of this land," she says.
As an acknowledged expert in child development in the Arab world, as well as a parent herself, Dr Al Khanji says a mother's role in shaping the personality of her child begins even in the womb.
"Mothers are the essence of life," she says. "They are the core that shapes the child's personality."
Some of her patients have been children who did not know who their parents were and Dr Khanji says she has seen the pain of any loss of identity.
"I don't think there is anything more difficult than not knowing who you are," she says.
Dr Khanji and Mrs Al Mousa agree that a genuine love for your country is much deeper than just the issuing of citizenship papers and a passport.
In the majlis and the Arab press, the word most commonly used is wala'a, or loyalty and solidarity. "Loyalty and solidarity are not given, they come from your core, but the belongings can be given," Dr Khanji says.
Mrs Al Mousa becomes tearful when she describes the "honour" of receiving an Emirati passport.
"I tell you from the bottom of my heart, it is such an honour for the whole world to recognise you as an Emirati."
After loyalty, what is most important is the responsibility that citizenship brings, she says. "Who ever gets nationality, he has the responsibility to honour his country, its people and its leaders."
balhashemi@thenational.ae
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Washmen Profile
Date Started: May 2015
Founders: Rami Shaar and Jad Halaoui
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Laundry
Employees: 170
Funding: about $8m
Funders: Addventure, B&Y Partners, Clara Ventures, Cedar Mundi Partners, Henkel Ventures
Tuesday's fixtures
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
WWE Evolution results
- Trish Stratus and Lita beat Alicia Fox and Mickie James in a tag match
- Nia Jax won a battle royal, eliminating Ember Moon last to win
- Toni Storm beat Io Shirai to win the Mae Young Classic
- Natalya, Sasha Banks and Bayley beat The Riott Squad in a six-woman tag match
- Shayna Baszler won the NXT Women’s title by defeating Kairi Sane
- Becky Lynch retained the SmackDown Women’s Championship against Charlotte Flair in a Last Woman Standing match
- Ronda Rousey retained the Raw Women’s title by beating Nikki Bella
The%20Crown%20season%205
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EImelda%20Staunton%2C%20Jonathan%20Pryce%2C%20Lesley%20Manville%2C%20Jonny%20Lee%20Miller%2C%20Dominic%20West%2C%20Elizabeth%20Debicki%2C%20Salim%20Daw%20and%20Khalid%20Abdalla%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EWritten%20by%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPeter%20Morgan%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%20stars%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Terminator: Dark Fate
Director: Tim Miller
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Mackenzie Davis
Rating: 3/5
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20myZoi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202021%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Syed%20Ali%2C%20Christian%20Buchholz%2C%20Shanawaz%20Rouf%2C%20Arsalan%20Siddiqui%2C%20Nabid%20Hassan%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2037%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Initial%20undisclosed%20funding%20from%20SC%20Ventures%3B%20second%20round%20of%20funding%20totalling%20%2414%20million%20from%20a%20consortium%20of%20SBI%2C%20a%20Japanese%20VC%20firm%2C%20and%20SC%20Venture%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Kill%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Nikhil%20Nagesh%20Bhat%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20Lakshya%2C%20Tanya%20Maniktala%2C%20Ashish%20Vidyarthi%2C%20Harsh%20Chhaya%2C%20Raghav%20Juyal%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204.5%2F5%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
The Bio
Favourite holiday destination: Either Kazakhstan or Montenegro. I’ve been involved in events in both countries and they are just stunning.
Favourite book: I am a huge of Robin Cook’s medical thrillers, which I suppose is quite apt right now. My mother introduced me to them back home in New Zealand.
Favourite film or television programme: Forrest Gump is my favourite film, that’s never been up for debate. I love watching repeats of Mash as well.
Inspiration: My late father moulded me into the man I am today. I would also say disappointment and sadness are great motivators. There are times when events have brought me to my knees but it has also made me determined not to let them get the better of me.
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
