European countries must stop closing embassies in the Sahel region and strengthen partnerships to counter terror threats, analysts have said.
The EU's footprint in the region has dramatically receded in the past decade after a succession of coups that have brought to power military leaders who have been shunned by the West.
Political instability has triggered further security concerns, with multiple reports of massacres of civilians that have garnered little international coverage. More than 400 people were killed in late August in Burkina Faso by an Al Qaeda affiliate group.
"What is happening in Mali, in Niger and in Burkina Faso is totally unacceptable on a daily basis," said the former foreign minister and defence minister of Mali, Tieman Coulibaly, on Monday in a public discussion on how Europeans can help stabilise the Sahel, organised by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).
"Each and every day, we have reported massacres all over our territory," said Mr Coulibaly, whose country, Mali, invited the Russian mercenary Wagner, which has ties to the Kremlin, to operate on its territory in 2021 after a military coup.
One year later, France withdrew its troops, who had been deployed for nearly a decade to fight extremist groups in what it had dubbed operation Barkhane. Wagner has since fought alongside the Malian army, with both suffering heavy losses in July in a clash against separatists and an Al Qaeda affiliated group.
Instead of walking away, the EU, which ended its defence and security partnerships with Niger in December, should strengthen existing partnerships to stop countries like Russia from replacing it as a strategic partner in the region, said ECFR's Africa Programme senior policy fellow, Will Brown.
"European countries should not close their embassies. They should not slash developmental aid. They should not slash humanitarian spending. Instead, Europeans should focus on stabilising the diplomatic crisis and maintaining in-country expertise," said Mr Brown.
"We need to be supporting local bloggers, influencers, regional media outlets who are critically interrogating some of the claims or actions of powers like Russia of what they're doing in the region. We shouldn't just be working through an ambassador's Twitter account or an ambassador's Facebook account. We need to coming much more into the reality of the 21st century," he added.
"Countering false narratives is crucial," said Mr Coulibaly. "It is necessary to give the true narrative, but it is also crucial to reveal the real face of those actors so the people can understand what is really going on. The decision to invite Wagner, for example, was the [worst] deal in the history of Mali, and we're paying the high price."
Russia, by their own admission, is not providing real support. They are providing an illusion of support
Europe's Special Representative for the Sahel,
Emanuela Del Re
The EU's Special Representative for the Sahel, Emanuela Del Re, pushed back against descriptions of the bloc's policies in the region as a "failure" and said it remains the region's biggest humanitarian donor. Yet she also recognised that there has been a lack of leadership at EU level, which has relied on the Economic Community of West African Countries (Ecowas).
Earlier this year Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso left the alliance, which numbers 12 countries and which for decades had ensured free movement of people and goods in the region. "We have seen a transformation of the European Union as, so to speak, a reference actor, but not an active actor, not a proactive actor," said Ms Del Re.
She said high-level representatives of several countries in the region had personally told her they would like the EU to continue its support with training and equipment to their military, but that this has proven an "ethical dilemma." Ms Del Re recounted a conversation with the Malian President, Colonel Assimi Goita, in which she warned him inviting Wagner to Mali would carry "consequences".
The consequences were the end of Operation Barkhane and of the EU training mission to Mali, which had trained 18,000 soldiers – more than half the country's military. "In the end, we are not present," said Ms Del Re.
"Given that we are in front of not only terrorists, but terrorists mixed with criminals, we will have to find some way of supporting the countries," she added. "Because they're really lacking military support. And we all know that Russia, by their own admission, is not providing real support. They are providing an illusion of support."
Lampedusa: Gateway to Europe
Pietro Bartolo and Lidia Tilotta
Quercus
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The biog
From: Ras Al Khaimah
Age: 50
Profession: Electronic engineer, worked with Etisalat for the past 20 years
Hobbies: 'Anything that involves exploration, hunting, fishing, mountaineering, the sea, hiking, scuba diving, and adventure sports'
Favourite quote: 'Life is so simple, enjoy it'
In 2018, the ICRC received 27,756 trace requests in the Middle East alone. The global total was 45,507.
There are 139,018 global trace requests that have not been resolved yet, 55,672 of these are in the Middle East region.
More than 540,000 individuals approached the ICRC in the Middle East asking to be reunited with missing loved ones in 2018.
The total figure for the entire world was 654,000 in 2018.
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Starring: Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Joel Fry
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The biog
Favourite car: Ferrari
Likes the colour: Black
Best movie: Avatar
Academic qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in media production from the Higher Colleges of Technology and diploma in production from the New York Film Academy
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
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.”
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
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