Janine di Giovanni is executive director at The Reckoning Project and a columnist for The National
July 06, 2023
A few weeks ago, I attended a meeting in a private apartment on the Upper West Side in New York, where a Nobel Prize-winning surgeon from the Democratic Republic of the Congo told a small group of human rights activists about his fears for his country.
Dr Denis Mukwege highlighted the prolonged and deteriorating humanitarian crisis in DRC – which the UN calls the one of the world’s “longest and most complex” crises. One in four Congolese – about 27 million people – are acutely food insecure in a country that has been dealing with the fallout of conflicts, epidemics such as Ebola and natural disasters. About 6.4 million people, mainly children under five years old, are affected by acute malnutrition.
But Dr Mukwege did not only speak of hunger. He spoke of how his country is at a tipping point as it faces an election year in 2023. Key civil society leaders in the DRC are urging him to run for the country’s presidency, although he has not announced any intention of doing so.
Vendors selling basic necessities in Bukavu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on March 16, 2022. Three-quarters of Congolese households live below the poverty line. AFP
I had long heard of Dr Mukwege’s extraordinary and courageous work, but it was the first time I met him. He is a large, charismatic yet humble man, a surgeon who trained as a gynaecologist and obstetrician but now treats victims whose bodies have been used as weapons of war. His work is gruelling, heart-breaking, never ending. Scarred women arrive at his clinic weekly.
He has spoken of helpless civilians fleeing the most terrible circumstances. But he has also spoken of the wealth of his country, and the greed of others who exploit it with little concern for those who suffer. Ironically, the DRC is one of the richest countries on the planet in terms of natural resources, but one of the most brutalised and traumatised by war.
My country is being systematically looted with the complicity of people claiming to be our leaders
Dr Denis Mukwege
Dr Mukwege won the Nobel Prize in 2018 for efforts “to end sexual violence used as a tool of war”. He now runs Panzi, a hospital he founded in his hometown of Bukavu in the east of the the DRC, where he usually works 18-hour days. Naturally, he was in the operating room when he was notified of his Nobel.
Despite the official end of the war in 2003 – which killed an estimated 6 million people and displaced millions more – horrific violence remains largely focused on the country’s raw materials.
The attacks against civilians are innumerable, taking the form of kidnapping, rape, death, and mutilation. Armed rebel groups use sexual violence as a weapon.
People walk in the courtyard of the Panzi General Hospital in Bukavu on November 4, 2021. AFP
The conflict spreads beyond the DRC’s borders, partially fuelled by trade in mineral resources. Gold, tin and coltan come from mines armed by the groups who carry out these attacks, play an enormous role in the destabilisation of the country.
The violence in the DRC is one of the greatest modern tragedies that gets little attention and little compassion. At the heart of it is greed. What causes the conflict? Largely, it is the war for cobalt, the mineral used to power our tech devices.
“When you drive your electric car; when you use your smart phone or admire your jewellery, take a minute to reflect on the human cost of manufacturing these objects…” Dr Mukwege said in the New York meeting. “As consumers, let us at least insist that these products are manufactured with respect for human dignity. Turning a blind eye to this tragedy is being complicit. It’s not just perpetrators of violence who are responsible for their crimes. It is also those who choose to look the other way.”
Artisanal miners work at Tilwizembe, a former industrial copper-cobalt mine outside Kolwezi, in the south of Democratic Republic of Congo. The bulk of rare earth mining is done in dangerous and environmentally damaging conditions. Reuters
Dr Mukwege has not been quiet about the mineral trade, about regional politics and about the DRC’s armed groups. In 2012, he survived an assassination attempt when five armed men attacked his hospital.
“My country is being systematically looted with the complicity of people claiming to be our leaders,” Dr Mukwege said. “Looted for their power, their wealth and their glory. Looted at the expense of millions of innocent men, women and children abandoned in extreme poverty. While the profits from our minerals end up in the pockets of a predatory oligarchy.”
When I left that early summer evening, deeply touched by Dr Mukwege’s words and his humility – and his insistence on working despite being a walking target – I walked home thinking that if more doctors, humanitarians and activists were in charge, what a different state Africa – and the rest of the world – would be in.
Imagine a world where more leaders understood from a grass roots level what people need to grow and thrive. The possibilities for change would be endless.
“Change must come from the Congolese themselves,” Dr Mukwege said. But if the DRC had more help, and more opportunities for its humanitarian voices to lead, then change would come faster, with real hope for post-conflict healing.
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023 More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
Essentials
The flights
Return flights from Dubai to Windhoek, with a combination of Emirates and Air Namibia, cost from US$790 (Dh2,902) via Johannesburg. The trip
A 10-day self-drive in Namibia staying at a combination of the safari camps mentioned – Okonjima AfriCat, Little Kulala, Desert Rhino/Damaraland, Ongava – costs from $7,000 (Dh25,711) per person, including car hire (Toyota 4x4 or similar), but excluding international flights, with The Luxury Safari Company. When to go
The cooler winter months, from June to September, are best, especially for game viewing.
RESULTS
Cagliari 5-2 Fiorentina
Udinese 0-0 SPAL
Sampdoria 0-0 Atalanta
Lazio 4-2 Lecce
Parma 2-0 Roma
Juventus 1-0 AC Milan
WHAT ARE NFTs?
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are tokens that represent ownership of unique items. They allow the tokenisation of things such as art, collectibles and even real estate.
An NFT can have only one official owner at one time. And since they're minted and secured on the Ethereum blockchain, no one can modify the record of ownership, not even copy-paste it into a new one.
This means NFTs are not interchangeable and cannot be exchanged with other items. In contrast, fungible items, such as fiat currencies, can be exchanged because their value defines them rather than their unique properties.
Men from Barca's class of 99
Crystal Palace - Frank de Boer
Everton - Ronald Koeman
Manchester City - Pep Guardiola
Manchester United - Jose Mourinho
Southampton - Mauricio Pellegrino
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Tips for SMEs to cope
Adapt your business model. Make changes that are future-proof to the new normal
Make sure you have an online presence
Open communication with suppliers, especially if they are international. Look for local suppliers to avoid delivery delays
Open communication with customers to see how they are coping and be flexible about extending terms, etc
Courtesy: Craig Moore, founder and CEO of Beehive, which provides term finance and working capital finance to SMEs. Only SMEs that have been trading for two years are eligible for funding from Beehive.
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.”
Three ways to limit your social media use
Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.
1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.
2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information.
3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.
UK’s AI plan
AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
£10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
£100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
£250m to train new AI models
Company profile
Company name: Nestrom
Started: 2017
Co-founders: Yousef Wadi, Kanaan Manasrah and Shadi Shalabi
Based: Jordan
Sector: Technology
Initial investment: Close to $100,000
Investors: Propeller, 500 Startups, Wamda Capital, Agrimatico, Techstars and some angel investors
