Few words can do justice to the suffering of the people of Yemen. With half the population facing possible famine and millions of children suffering from malnutrition, no effort can be spared in ending the suffering of all Yemenis. Last week saw a significant development, with the Americans pushing for "substantive consultations" to begin promptly, overseen by the United Nations, coupled with a halting of hostilities by the end of this month. There is now renewed impetus to end the war and the illegitimate Houthi rule in Sanaa, an opportunity that cannot be squandered again. Too many lives are at stake.
There were hopes last summer that a political process, via the office of UN special envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths, would bring about a path to peace. Mr Griffiths started his term as envoy in February and, by the summer, felt confident about starting a political process before the end of the year. The Arab coalition, and in particular Saudi Arabia and the UAE, welcomed Mr Griffiths' appointment and repeatedly called for a political solution to end the war and reinstate the internationally recognised government of Yemen. The coalition also welcomed Mr Griffiths' invitation to key Yemeni parties to join in peace talks and urged the government of Yemeni President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi to attend them in Geneva in September. Mr Hadi and his team had their reservations about the negotiations but they were encouraged by their allies to take the necessary steps to kickstart a vital political process. Sensing the urgency with which the world was moving to press for talks, the Houthi rebels tried to take maximum advantage of the situation and laid out a series of demands without ever making it to Geneva. Their stalling tactics led to the collapse of talks before they had even begun.
While Mr Griffiths has been working tirelessly to get the talks off the ground, the involvement of the US has now brought momentum to the political track. US Secretary of Defence James Mattis spelled out in Manama the next urgent steps to start a peace process: demilitarising borders, bringing heavy weapons under international control (rather than under the Houthis) and setting up confidence-building measures. These are steps that the Yemeni government and Arab coalition have been calling for.
If these measures are set in place – and include the release of detainees and facilitating the delivery of aid – political talks should follow. The primary issues will not be that different from the talks that began several years ago, prior to the Houthi coup: power-sharing, control of arms and the need for a national consensus on governance.
January 2014 feels like a long time ago in Yemen. The National Dialogue conference concluded that month with an agreement on decentralisation and government-sharing, a key moment in a political transition that first began in Yemen in November 2011, when Ali Abdullah Saleh handed over power to Mr Hadi. Saudi Arabia led that largely peaceful political process, within the framework of the Gulf Cooperation Council and with the agreement of the permanent members of the UN Security Council. However, all was lost with the Houthi coup. Today, with millions of lives destroyed as a result of that action and the ensuing war, going back to the negotiating table is a pressing necessity.
The threats from terrorism, piracy and militias are compounded by the many developmental challenges facing Yemen. Whether it is water scarcity or the lack of basic infrastructure in many of the villages and towns of Yemen, stabilising the country and allowing it to prosper will be a great feat. As Ahmed Aboul Gheit, secretary general of the Arab League, said in an interview with The National, "ideologies won't help the people of Yemen" to meet the many humanitarian and developmental issues facing the country.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE are respectively the two largest donors to Yemen. In addition to their unilateral contributions, together they have provided more than 50 per cent of the funding for the UN's Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan this year. More than a quarter of the funding for the $2.9bn plan came from the UAE while Saudi Arabia contributed 28 per cent. Support from other donor countries, in addition to rebuilding Yemen's incredibly fragile systems, will be vital in the coming weeks and months.
Much of this rests on both Yemeni sides coming to the negotiating table. Iranian-backed elements will be trying to push the Arab-led coalition, supported by the UN, US and European countries, to war. Increased pressure on Tehran, with renewed sanctions, will lead it to push its proxies to more battles. There is a real danger here. While the coalition-backed forces hold back their military advances, they also cannot allow the Houthis to manipulate the situation to gain ground.
The end of the Yemen war cannot come soon enough. However, winning the peace and laying the groundwork to stop further conflict must come now. Yemen has suffered too many false starts over the past decade and its people deserve commitment from all sides to give peace a real chance.
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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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Stars: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia, Michael Caine, Kenneth Branagh
Rating: 5/5
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
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