VENTIMIGLIA, ITALY // Hassen Sahli and Sami Garslah led the way through the Italian railway station and, with dry humour, presented their "five-star hotel".
The long, narrow waiting room in Ventimiglia, seven kilometres from the French border, is where some of the hundreds of Tunisian migrants gathered to sleep at night and dream of new lives in an unwelcoming Europe.
Rugs and other humble belongings are pushed against the walls beside cheap plastic seats. From one pile, Mr Sahli produces a simple placard proclaiming, in words and little heart-shaped symbols, their quest for freedom.
It is more than a month since the two men joined the exodus from Tunisia, a journey that started with hazardous crossings in crowded boats to the Italian island of Lampedusa.
The presence of so many Tunisians on the frontier has created diplomatic tension between France and Italy.
Trains between Ventimiglia and Nice were blocked by the French authorities last weekend and newspaper headlines highlight concerns that a "Mediterranean Sangatte" - the northern French village that was the focus of Asian and other African migrants' attempts to reach Britain, even after the authorities closed the refugee camp in 2002 - is in the making.
Mr Garslah and Mr Sahli said they are among an estimated 1,000 Tunisians sleeping where they can in Ventimiglia, from the station waiting room and an overflowing reception centre to a park by the seafront.
This may be an exaggeration. Local officials have suggested it is more like 500 or 600 people. All are men, mostly in their 20s and 30s. Some paid smugglers around Dh5,000 to cross the Mediterranean and have little money left. They survive on what sympathetic bakers and grocers give them, and what they can persuade journalists and film crews to pay for their stories.
Roughly 26,000 Tunisians have crossed to Italy since January and most have been granted, or promised, temporary residential papers that should allow passage between European countries signed up to the Schengen treaty on free movement.
But France's president Nicolas Sarkozy is anxious to present himself as tough on immigration and, with elections a year away, fears a backlash if people see large numbers of migrants allowed into France at a time when the country is committed to reducing the flow.
Paris believes Italy is trying to offload its problems on to neighbours. Rome deplores French reluctance to share its burden. Frank exchanges are expected when the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, meets Mr Sarkozy in Rome tomorrow. The agenda is likely to include French proposals to change the Schengen accord to allow suspension of "roaming rights" when circumstances demand.
The European Commission accepted that the French national rail operator, SNCF, acting on the advice of a French regional administrator, was within its rights in halting trains on April 17.
Paris claimed it was a response to the threat to public order as left-wing Italian militants sought to accompany migrants by rail to Nice and Marseille.
France insists that even Tunisians in possession of the Italian-issued permits may enter only if they are able to prove they can support themselves, but even that is being interpreted haphazardly.
After police acted to send migrants back to Italy, the approach is being seen on both sides as a sign of French intransigence.
"No border should be closed within the Schengen area," Caroline Maillary, representing a migrants' support group, told the French media. "Any person in one or the other member states should be able to travel freely in another member state. The government guidelines are therefore against the law."
The most determined refugees reach France despite the challenges and bureaucratic obstacles.
Before the events of last weekend, Mr Garslah, 27, who earned just Dh800 a month as a fisherman in Sfax Karkina, was able to travel by train to Paris, where he stayed for two days with friends, who gave him fresh clothing and money, before visiting relatives in Germany.
But a simple administrative error had rendered his permit worthless - an Italian official had dated it incorrectly - and he had to return to Ventimiglia where he now waits for valid papers.
"I only want to pass through France and find work in Germany," he said. "I have metal construction qualifications, but life in Tunisia is hard and work is very badly paid. Why does Europe talk about freedom but refuse to help us?"
Mr Sahli, 32, who has a baccalaureat certificate but has never found employment at home in Béja, is prepared to accept any job, preferably in the Netherlands or Germany.
Despite the uprising that toppled the former president, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, he is gloomy about prospects in Tunisia.
"Ben Ali has gone but dictatorship remains. Freedom is so important to me," he said. "In Europe, I want liberty before I want bread."
One French newspaper, Nice-Matin, reported the story of two Tunisians who avoided French police controls by trudging for four hours on foot across mountain passes, before boarding a train from the French resort of Menton and heading for Cannes and Nice.
Among the Tunisians waiting in Ventimiglia, there is similar resolve.
Trains are running normally, and France is minutes away by road - though there are checks at the first motorway toll station. While money is short, contacts in France and beyond are willing to help.
Some Tunisians have already crossed at least once, only to be returned to the Italian border. Other sare clearly more successful, and the process is likely to continue.
"There are 150 people sleeping each night in my centre," said one Italian official working with the migrants. "It's almost never the same ones."
crandall@thenational.ae
Company profile
Company: Rent Your Wardrobe
Date started: May 2021
Founder: Mamta Arora
Based: Dubai
Sector: Clothes rental subscription
Stage: Bootstrapped, self-funded
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
hall of shame
SUNDERLAND 2002-03
No one has ended a Premier League season quite like Sunderland. They lost each of their final 15 games, taking no points after January. They ended up with 19 in total, sacking managers Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson and losing 3-1 to Charlton when they scored three own goals in eight minutes.
SUNDERLAND 2005-06
Until Derby came along, Sunderland’s total of 15 points was the Premier League’s record low. They made it until May and their final home game before winning at the Stadium of Light while they lost a joint record 29 of their 38 league games.
HUDDERSFIELD 2018-19
Joined Derby as the only team to be relegated in March. No striker scored until January, while only two players got more assists than goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The mid-season appointment Jan Siewert was to end his time as Huddersfield manager with a 5.3 per cent win rate.
ASTON VILLA 2015-16
Perhaps the most inexplicably bad season, considering they signed Idrissa Gueye and Adama Traore and still only got 17 points. Villa won their first league game, but none of the next 19. They ended an abominable campaign by taking one point from the last 39 available.
FULHAM 2018-19
Terrible in different ways. Fulham’s total of 26 points is not among the lowest ever but they contrived to get relegated after spending over £100 million (Dh457m) in the transfer market. Much of it went on defenders but they only kept two clean sheets in their first 33 games.
LA LIGA: Sporting Gijon, 13 points in 1997-98.
BUNDESLIGA: Tasmania Berlin, 10 points in 1965-66
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.”
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
The%20specs
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HOW DO SIM CARD SCAMS WORK?
Sim swap frauds are a form of identity theft.
They involve criminals conning mobile phone operators into issuing them with replacement Sim cards, often by claiming their phone has been lost or stolen
They use the victim's personal details - obtained through criminal methods - to convince such companies of their identity.
The criminal can then access any online service that requires security codes to be sent to a user's mobile phone, such as banking services.
EXPATS
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RESULTS
5pm: Maiden | Dh80,000 | 1,600m
Winner: AF Al Moreeb, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer)
5.30pm: Handicap | Dh80,000 | 1,600m
Winner: AF Makerah, Adrie de Vries, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Handicap | Dh80,000 | 2,200m
Winner: Hazeme, Richard Mullen, Jean de Roualle
6.30pm: Handicap | Dh85,000 | 2,200m
Winner: AF Yatroq, Brett Doyle, Ernst Oertel
7pm: Shadwell Farm for Private Owners Handicap | Dh70,000 | 2,200m
Winner: Nawwaf KB, Patrick Cosgrave, Helal Al Alawi
7.30pm: Handicap (TB) | Dh100,000 | 1,600m
Winner: Treasured Times, Bernardo Pinheiro, Rashed Bouresly
