BAGHDAD // Iraqi special forces are closing in on the most senior member of Saddam Hussein's inner circle still on the run since the 2003 invasion, security sources said yesterday.
Troops with air support were searching for Izzat Ibrahim Al Douri, head of Saddam's now-outlawed Baath party, in villages around the former ruler's hometown of Tikrit, 150 kilometres north of Baghdad.
Capturing the most prominent Baath leader would be a major victory for the Shiite Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki before provincial elections that will measure his political muscle for the 2014 parliamentary ballot.
"We have solid information that he is in Dour since last night, now we have closed the area, announced a curfew and are searching house by house," said one senior security officer involved in the operation.
Mr Al Douri was long believed to be living outside Iraq, and he was last seen in January in a video message encouraging Sunni Muslim protesters to resist Mr Al Maliki's government.
Mr Al Maliki is facing huge Sunni rallies in western Iraq protesting against what they see as the marginalisation of their minority sect since 2003. Many Sunnis feel they have been unfairly targeted for arrest by security forces.
The Shiite leader has offered some concessions to protesters, especially in the so-called de-Baathification law - meant to keep former Baath party members out of government posts - and Iraq's tough anti-terrorism laws.
Mr Al Maliki is also under pressure from other Shiite parties in his coalition, who are trying to use his concessions to Sunnis for political gain in the local elections on Saturday for provincial council members.
Mr Al Douri was vice-chairman of Saddam's ruling Revolutionary Command Council until the invasion. He also headed the Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order or the Naqshbandi Army formed after 2007 to fight US troops.
Sunni insurgents and Al Qaeda still carry out coordinated attacks like the string of bombings on Monday that killed 30 people in Baghdad and other cities.
Security officers involved in the Douri operation said they believed he moved between Tikrit and the towns of Dour and Hawija. One security source said Mr Al Douri visited Sunni demonstrators in Tikrit before he went to Dour where he has many supporters and owns a villa.
"The special forces early this morning raided the villa of his excellency. They searched it, but found nothing," said Dhiyaa Ibrahim, one of Mr Al Douri's neighbours.
In January's video,Mr Al Douri, surrounded by men in uniform, urged Sunni nationalists to resist the Shiite government, which has edged closer to Iraq's non-Arab Shiite neighbour Tehran since the invasion and fall of Sunni strongman Saddam.
Since the last American troops left, Baghdad's national government has been deadlocked by tensions among Shiite, Sunni and ethnic Kurdish parties who split government posts among them in an unwieldy power-sharing arrangement.
After the invasion, Mr Al Douri was ranked sixth on the US military's list of 55 most wanted Iraqis and a US$10 million (Dh36.7m) reward was offered for his capture. US officials said he had organised a Sunni insurgency against American troops.
Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
Non-oil%20trade
%3Cp%3ENon-oil%20trade%20between%20the%20UAE%20and%20Japan%20grew%20by%2034%20per%20cent%20over%20the%20past%20two%20years%2C%20according%20to%20data%20from%20the%20Federal%20Competitiveness%20and%20Statistics%20Centre.%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EIn%2010%20years%2C%20it%20has%20reached%20a%20total%20of%20Dh524.4%20billion.%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ECars%20topped%20the%20list%20of%20the%20top%20five%20commodities%20re-exported%20to%20Japan%20in%202022%2C%20with%20a%20value%20of%20Dh1.3%20billion.%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EJewellery%20and%20ornaments%20amounted%20to%20Dh150%20million%20while%20precious%20metal%20scraps%20amounted%20to%20Dh105%20million.%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERaw%20aluminium%20was%20ranked%20first%20among%20the%20top%20five%20commodities%20exported%20to%20Japan.%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ETop%20of%20the%20list%20of%20commodities%20imported%20from%20Japan%20in%202022%20was%20cars%2C%20with%20a%20value%20of%20Dh20.08%20billion.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
No%20Windmills%20in%20Basra
%3Cp%3EAuthor%3A%20Diaa%20Jubaili%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EPages%3A%20180%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EPublisher%3A%20Deep%20Vellum%20Publishing%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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.”
Company%20profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million