Sudan’s army chief and de facto leader Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan met Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El Sisi in Cairo on Monday following recent gains by the Sudanese army against their rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the collapse of international mediation efforts this month.
Mr El Sisi and Gen Al Burhan held closed-door meetings which addressed, among other things, the “progress made by the Sudanese Armed Forces in the field and its recent retaking of the capital Khartoum”, according to a statement from the Egyptian presidency.
Gen Al Burhan was accompanied by ٍSudan's acting Foreign Minister, Hussein El Amin, who told the Sudan News Agency the army chief received an invitation to Cairo from Mr El Sisi on April 15, the second anniversary of the start of the war.
On the same day, 22 countries and a coalition of NGOs working on war relief efforts in Sudan met in Britain's capital for the London Sudan Conference, the latest in a series of international mediation efforts that have ended without a breakthrough.
The war has claimed more than 100,000 lives, by some estimates, and displaced nearly 13 million people. Some areas of the country are facing famine as aid agencies struggle for access to deliver relief supplies.
Monday’s meeting also comes two weeks after RSF leader Gen Mohamed Dagalo announced the formation of a rival Sudanese government with plans to issue a new currency and ID cards, and exercise full administrative control over the regions it holds.
Cairo is opposed to any division of control over Sudan and views the new rival government as a threat to its national security due to the borders it shares.
“We categorically reject any attempts to undermine the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sudan, including the rejection of any endeavours to establish a parallel government,” President El Sisi said during a speech in Djibouti last week.
Gen Al Burhan, in a speech on Saturday in Khartoum, said the army had "shifted from a defence strategy to an offence strategy”.
He pledged to retaliate twofold to any RSF attacks and to put an end to the drone strikes the paramilitary has been accused of launching on civilian areas since its defeat in Khartoum last month.
Analysts say the military’s recent victories have tipped the scales in its favour and that Cairo aims to build on these gains by boosting the army's international profile.
“This visit comes as the army is seeking to solidify its recent victories and determine the path forward after it regained the capital and large parts of the country. The fact that Al Burhan went to Egypt at this critical time sends a strong message that the Sudanese establishment welcomes Cairo’s input," Ahmed Ismail, director of Mashad, an NGO in Paris that monitors the war, told The National.
“Egypt and El Sisi have enjoyed an exceptionally high international profile lately because of the central role it has played in both the mediations of the conflicts in Gaza and Sudan," he said. "So hosting Al Burhan now, while there is attention, will also send a message to the world that all political manoeuvring in the Horn of Africa will have to go through the military establishments of both Egypt and Sudan."
Cairo has so far been one of the Sudanese army's main allies in the civil war, and Mr El Sisi, a former military general, has maintained strong ties with Gen Al Burhan, whom he has hosted in Cairo several times since the outbreak of the war, most recently for an Arab summit on Gaza in early March.
Mr Ismail said that with divisions among the regional stakeholders becoming increasingly apparent, the meeting between Gen Al Burhan and Mr El Sisi “strongly suggests that Khartoum and its military de facto ruler will now move further into the orbit of Cairo”.
The Sudanese military-dominated government is the UN-recognised representative of the people of Sudan.
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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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.”
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Notable salonnières of the Middle East through history
Al Khasan (Okaz, Saudi Arabia)
Tamadir bint Amr Al Harith, known simply as Al Khasan, was a poet from Najd famed for elegies, earning great renown for the eulogy of her brothers Mu’awiyah and Sakhr, both killed in tribal wars. Although not a salonnière, this prestigious 7th century poet fostered a culture of literary criticism and could be found standing in the souq of Okaz and reciting her poetry, publicly pronouncing her views and inviting others to join in the debate on scholarship. She later converted to Islam.
Maryana Marrash (Aleppo)
A poet and writer, Marrash helped revive the tradition of the salon and was an active part of the Nadha movement, or Arab Renaissance. Born to an established family in Aleppo in Ottoman Syria in 1848, Marrash was educated at missionary schools in Aleppo and Beirut at a time when many women did not receive an education. After touring Europe, she began to host salons where writers played chess and cards, competed in the art of poetry, and discussed literature and politics. An accomplished singer and canon player, music and dancing were a part of these evenings.
Princess Nazil Fadil (Cairo)
Princess Nazil Fadil gathered religious, literary and political elite together at her Cairo palace, although she stopped short of inviting women. The princess, a niece of Khedive Ismail, believed that Egypt’s situation could only be solved through education and she donated her own property to help fund the first modern Egyptian University in Cairo.
Mayy Ziyadah (Cairo)
Ziyadah was the first to entertain both men and women at her Cairo salon, founded in 1913. The writer, poet, public speaker and critic, her writing explored language, religious identity, language, nationalism and hierarchy. Born in Nazareth, Palestine, to a Lebanese father and Palestinian mother, her salon was open to different social classes and earned comparisons with souq of where Al Khansa herself once recited.
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All the Money in the World
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Charlie Plummer, Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Williams, Christopher Plummer
Four stars
Scores in brief:
Day 1
New Zealand (1st innings) 153 all out (66.3 overs) - Williamson 63, Nicholls 28, Yasir 3-54, Haris 2-11, Abbas 2-13, Hasan 2-38
Pakistan (1st innings) 59-2 (23 overs)
2.0
Director: S Shankar
Producer: Lyca Productions; presented by Dharma Films
Cast: Rajnikanth, Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson, Sudhanshu Pandey
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
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