SANAA // Yemen's capital is one of the most ancient cities in the world, but neglect by officials and unruly construction are threatening to destroy the UN world heritage site.
Ancient tower blocks, some six storeys high, some nine, look like gingerbread castles. With ground floors of black lava stone, their upper storeys are of baked brick decorated with intricate geometric shapes and horizontal bands in gypsum whitewash.
Each quarter has a mosque, a hammam and a garden around which the houses were built. In the past, water used for ablution in the mosque was then pooled to irrigate the gardens, used for growing vegetables, and waste was recycled to heat water in the hammams or for fertiliser.
That rich heritage is reflected in 103 mosques, some built more than a millennium ago, 14 hammams and more than 6,000 centuries-old houses, and the Old City was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) in 1986.
But preservationists are struggling against the ravages of the modern world. Randomly built concrete houses distort the Old City's skyline, salt from the cement weakens its structure and the once-spacious gardens are disappearing.
Many people have abandoned their homes, which are costly to maintain, and moved to new villas outside town. So the Old City has increasingly become a home for lower-income people even less able to stem the tide of dilapidation.
More and more of these houses, each of which stands as an individual piece of art, are collapsing because of decay, the recent installation of sewage pipes along the narrow alleys and heavy rainfall.
This is compounded by a lack of maintenance resulting from the indifference of the authorities, Unesco warns. And because of inadequate drainage, the rainy season poses an annual threat to the old mud-brick buildings.
In February last year, Unesco urged the authorities "to ensure the protection of the cultural heritage" of the impoverished country. But the government has been absorbed by political crises and security threats, and had little time, or money, to spare for preservation.
Yemen was rocked by an uprising in 2011 that forced Ali Abdullah Saleh out of the presidency after a year of clashes in Sanaa between loyalists and opponents.
Naji Saleh Thawaba, president of the General Organisation for the Preservation of the Historic Cities of Yemen (GOPHCY), said the government was now focused on holding a national dialogue to end political deadlock in the country.
"The government and the international community have only one thing in mind: the national dialogue, and have forgotten everything else - including heritage," he said.
Founded in 1990, GOPHCY is an independent body set up to develop a strategy for sustainable development in Sanaa and other cities.
"The ministry of finance has not allocated anything to the organisation, which is expected to prepare studies about preservation and prevent abuse," Mr Thawaba said.
Mr Thawaba's deputy, Ammatelrazzaq Jehaf, shared his concerns.
"We have a budget of five million riyals [Dh85,600] for Sanaa ... How can this amount be enough to take care of 600 houses?"
"The only practical solution is a Unesco mission which would unify ... efforts to preserve this heritage. Without such a mission, nothing will change," Mr Thawaba said.
Mr Jehaf hopes Unseco will help by "finding donors and financiers who would come to the aid of Sanaa".
Unesco has organised several missions to Sanaa to try to provide assistance to restoration projects. But Unesco said no official information was available on the state of conservation of Old City properties "due to security restrictions".
Sanaa residents feel their heritage is crumbling and blame authorities for not doing enough to protect it.
"We have no government attention while many homes are on the verge of collapse," said Abdelaziz Al Dhahiani.
Another resident, Wazir Al Ghallab, echoed the sense of helplessness. "We cannot restore them ourselves. We keep waiting for government intervention that never arrives," he said. "Sometimes the facade is slightly restored but the interior is left in ruins. Old Sanaa is an unmatched jewel that everyone should try to preserve."
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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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Women’s World T20, Asia Qualifier
UAE results
Beat China by 16 runs
Lost to Thailand by 10 wickets
Beat Nepal by five runs
Beat Hong Kong by eight wickets
Beat Malaysia by 34 runs
Standings (P, W, l, NR, points)
1. Thailand 5 4 0 1 9
2. UAE 5 4 1 0 8
3. Nepal 5 2 1 2 6
4. Hong Kong 5 2 2 1 5
5. Malaysia 5 1 4 0 2
6. China 5 0 5 0 0
Final
Thailand v UAE, Monday, 7am
Duterte Harry: Fire and Fury in the Philippines
Jonathan Miller, Scribe Publications
How to register as a donor
1) Organ donors can register on the Hayat app, run by the Ministry of Health and Prevention
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
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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