The Sudanese capital was quiet on Sunday, hours after the nation's warring factions agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire mediated by Saudi Arabia and the US.
The truce went into effect at 6am local time. Several hours after it began, only sporadic gunfire could be heard in the sprawling capital, which has been pummelled by artillery shelling and air strikes since hostilities broke out two months ago.
Several previous ceasefire agreements were largely ignored by the warring sides, the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Residents said army troops on Sunday consolidated positions in neighbourhoods around Khartoum airport, which was captured by the RSF early in the conflict. The army deployment did not draw a reaction from the RSF, they said.
A video clip shared online shows troops celebrating what they said were advances on the airport, which is located near the city centre.
The area around the airport was the scene of intense ground fighting in recent days.
As in earlier truces, the latest one demands that the warring parties allow safe passage for humanitarian aid to the capital as well as elsewhere in the vast Afro-Arab nation.
The UN says 25 million people in Sudan, more than half the population, are in need of aid.
A US-Saudi statement announcing the truce called on the army and the RSF to consider the suffering of the Sudanese people, especially in view of the humanitarian donor conference to be co-hosted by Saudi Arabia on Monday.
The statement also warned that failure to observe the ceasefire could lead to the suspension of peace talks currently taking place in the Saudi city of Jeddah. The talks, mediated by the Saudi Arabia and the US, have been going for weeks with the goal of reaching a lasting ceasefire.
The latest truce followed a marked increase in air strikes by the army. On Saturday, at least 17 people, including five children and seven women, were killed in a strike that destroyed 25 homes in the poor Mayo district in southern Khartoum.
There was no word from either side on the strike and it was not immediately clear whether it was caused by an air strike, artillery shelling or drones.
The army has relied heavily on artillery and air power in the conflict. The RSF, which is known to have drones, has gained a quick advantage in the war by embedding thousands of its fighters in residential areas across the city who are now proving difficult to dislodge.
The conflict, essentially a fight for supremacy, has killed 3,000 and wounded twice as many since it began on April 15, according to the Health Ministry.
The fighting, which has created what the UN says is a “humanitarian calamity”, has also forced at least 2.2 million people to flee their homes to escape the fighting. Of these, about 530,000 went to neighbouring countries, primarily Egypt, Chad and South Sudan.
Video clips shared online this weekend show hundreds of civilians marching to the Chad border from West Darfur, scene of intense violence instigated by the RSF and its allied militiamen.
At least 1,100 people have been killed in West Darfur since the war began, local activists said.
Darfur was the battleground of civil war in the early 2000s. The RSF, whose roots are in Darfur, fought on the government's side during that war and is accused of committing widespread abuses against civilians at the time. The war killed 300,000 and displaced 2.5 million, according to the UN.
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Drivers’ championship standings after Singapore:
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - 263
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari - 235
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes - 212
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull - 162
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari - 138
6. Sergio Perez, Force India - 68
Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
MATCH INFO
Karnataka Tuskers 110-5 (10 ovs)
Tharanga 48, Shafiq 34, Rampaul 2-16
Delhi Bulls 91-8 (10 ovs)
Mathews 31, Rimmington 3-28
Karnataka Tuskers win by 19 runs
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Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
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Second ODI
England 322-7 (50 ovs)
India 236 (50 ovs)
England win by 86 runs
Next match: Tuesday, July 17, Headingley
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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.”
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
