Pro-Houthi female supporters and children hold weapons during a gathering to show support to the Iran-backed rebels, in Sana’a, Yemen, 13 January 2018. Yahya Arhab / EPA
Pro-Houthi female supporters and children hold weapons during a gathering to show support to the Iran-backed rebels, in Sana’a, Yemen, 13 January 2018. Yahya Arhab / EPA

Child soldiers transferred to Yemeni forces for rehabilitation

Houthi rebels have forcibly conscripted children, posing a challenge for the Arab coalition

Ali Mahmood

January 25, 2018

Dozens of children enlisted by Iran-backed Houthi militias have been transferred to Yemeni forces to be rehabilitated through Saudi-funded programmes.

The rebels recruited and deployed the youths on the northern front, where 27 were captured by Saudi forces last week.

The handover was carried out by the International Red Cross and the Saudi Red Crescent authorities in Marib province, Saba Net reported

The Houthis began storming public schools in rebel-held areas earlier this month to recruit pupils as fighters, some through kidnapping.

Pro-government forces captured 50 soldiers on January 8, and found 30 were underage, some as young as 10 years old.

The area's police chief said the Houthis' use of child soldiers across Yemen is a sign of their disregard for moral values and a direct violation of international law.

He said the youths in police custody would be cared for in line with guidelines set by the humanitarian organisations present.

The King Salman Centre for Relief and Humanitarian Affairs is working on a project to help rehabilitate children conscripted in the war in Yemen.

More than 80 children have been rehabilitated in the centre after serving extensive tours with the Houthi militias.

Saudi Arabia has also been working on rebuilding Yemeni infrastructure. On Wednesday, the minister of public works and highway control, Dr Maeen Abdulmalik, signed an agreement with the Saudi embassy to build much-needed roads, aimed at speeding up the delivery of humanitarian aid.

The programme will begin by repairing 84km of three routes that link the northern provinces in Yemen with the south.

"This project will provide nearly 15,000 direct and indirect employment opportunities," the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed Al Jabir, said on Twitter.

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

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.”