International air and missile strikes in Libya appear to have saved the rebel stronghold of Benghazi for now, but their intensity has brought condemnation from the Arab bloc whose support is deemed crucial for the military action's credibility.
The strikes by western nations also drew vitriolic words from Libya’s military strongman Colonel Muammar Qaddafi, who labelled his enemies “the party of Satan”.
The Arab League yesterday sharply condemned the attack. Support from the League, which more than a week ago urged the international community to implement a no-fly zone over Libya to stop Col Qaddafi’s planes from striking the population, is key for western countries participating in the operation.
“What is happening in Libya differs from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone, and what we want is the protection of civilians, not the bombardment of more civilians,” said the League secretary general, Amr Moussa. Mr Moussa said he would convene an emergency meeting of the Arab League to discuss Libya.
China and Russia have also condemned the attacks on Libya.
The air and missile strikes by France, the US and Britain started on Saturday, but have had mixed results. While Benghazi was relieved and opposition fighters struck out again towards other towns in eastern Libya, the rebels said that they were on the point of losing their only remaining foothold in the west of the country, the town of Misrata.
They said that government tanks had reached the centre of the town. “There are so many casualties, we cannot count them,” a rebel spokesman in Misrata told Reuters.
The first attacks were aimed at stopping the government’s assault on Benghazi that was under way at the time. Strikes aimed at Col Qaddafi’s air defences and airfields followed.
The countries acted after a UN Security Council resolution last week that authorised the use of force to protect Libya's population.
The highest American military official said yesterday that a no-fly zone that stops Libyan government aircraft from attacking rebel positions was “effectively in place”. Admiral Mike Mullen, who heads the joint chiefs of staff of the US military, told CNN that Col Qaddafi “has not flown his planes for the last two days”.
He also said that the strikes had “put a halt, at least temporarily” to the government assault on Benghazi.
Despite the criticism from the Arab League, some Arab countries were poised yesterday to start participating in the operation, notably Qatar. “I am very confident that there will be military capabilities from some Arab countries and they’re moving into theatre now,” Adml Mullen said.
The Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al Thani, told the Al Jazeera satellite TV channel yesterday that his country is taking part in the operation.
“Qatar is participating in the military action because it is necessary for Arab states to take part,” he said.
Sheikh Hamad emphasised that the action was not aimed at the Libyan people, or against Col Qaddafi personally, but was meant to “stop the bloodbath”. Hundreds of people have died in Libya since large parts of the country rose up against Col Qaddafi’s 42-year rule last month.
The Libyan leader struck a defiant tone in a radio speech after the international military action started, and said that he and his nation were preparing for a “long war”. Col Qaddafi attempted to depict the action as a “crusader war against the Muslim people, especially against the Libyan people”.
He called his opponents “the party of Satan” and vowed attacks against military and civilian targets in and around the Mediterranean.
The government in Tripoli also yesterday started handing out weapons to “more than a million men and women”, the official news agency Jana reported, quoting a ministry of defence official.
The Libyan capital was rocked by explosions from the coalition attacks on Saturday night and yesterday morning.
Libya’s government said that the initial air and missile strikes claimed the lives of 64 people, including dozens of civilians. The countries carrying out the initial strikes have said that these were carefully aimed at military objectives, including air defence installations and airfields.
US and British warships sent a barrage of 112 Tomahawk cruise missiles flying into Libya late on Saturday as part of what the coalition has dubbed “Operation Odyssey Dawn”. American stealth bombers and other warplanes then carried out the bulk of the strikes against Libya’s air defences and military airfields.
But American military spokesmen have emphasised that the US hopes to scale down its role, when Col Qaddafi’s air defences and air force have been neutralised, to let European and Arab countries take the lead.
The first strikes on Saturday were carried out by aircraft from France, the country that had pushed hardest for military intervention in Libya.
The attacks were aimed against government forces near Benghazi.
Col Qaddafi’s men had been using tanks and heavy artillery against the city since Friday, killing at least 90 people, according to hospital and opposition sources.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
Read more from Aya Iskandarani
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Revibe%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hamza%20Iraqui%20and%20Abdessamad%20Ben%20Zakour%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Refurbished%20electronics%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410m%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%2C%20Resonance%20and%20various%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
West Asia rugby, season 2017/18 - Roll of Honour
Western Clubs Champions League - Winners: Abu Dhabi Harlequins; Runners up: Bahrain
Dubai Rugby Sevens - Winners: Dubai Exiles; Runners up: Jebel Ali Dragons
West Asia Premiership - Winners: Jebel Ali Dragons; Runners up: Abu Dhabi Harlequins
UAE Premiership Cup - Winners: Abu Dhabi Harlequins; Runners up: Dubai Exiles
UAE Premiership - Winners: Dubai Exiles; Runners up: Abu Dhabi Harlequins
Scorebox
Sharjah Wanderers 20-25 Dubai Tigers (After extra-time)
Wanderers
Tries Gormley, Penalty
Cons Flaherty
Pens Flaherty 2
Tigers
Tries O’Donnell, Gibbons, Kelly
Cons Caldwell 2
Pens Caldwell, Cross
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Sebastian Stefan, Sebastian Morar and Claudia Pacurar
Based: Dubai, UAE
Founded: 2014
Number of employees: 36
Sector: Logistics
Raised: $2.5 million
Investors: DP World, Prime Venture Partners and family offices in Saudi Arabia and the UAE
Chris%20Jordan%20on%20Sanchit
%3Cp%3EChris%20Jordan%20insists%20Sanchit%20Sharma%20will%20make%20an%20impact%20on%20the%20ILT20%2C%20despite%20him%20starting%20the%20campaign%20on%20Gulf%20Giants'%20bench.%3Cbr%3EThe%20young%20UAE%20seamer%20was%20an%20instant%20success%20for%20the%20side%20last%20season%2C%20and%20remained%20part%20of%20the%20XI%20as%20they%20claimed%20the%20title.%3Cbr%3EHe%20has%20yet%20to%20feature%20this%20term%20as%20the%20Giants%20have%20preferred%20Aayan%20Khan%20and%20Usman%20Khan%20as%20their%20two%20UAE%20players%20so%20far.%3Cbr%3EHowever%2C%20England%20quick%20Jordan%20is%20sure%20his%20young%20colleague%20will%20have%20a%20role%20to%20play%20at%20some%20point.%3Cbr%3E%22Me%20and%20Sanchit%20have%20a%20great%20relationship%20from%20last%20season%2C%22%20Jordan%20said.%3Cbr%3E%22Whenever%20I%20am%20working%20with%20more%20inexperienced%20guys%2C%20I%20take%20pleasure%20in%20sharing%20as%20much%20as%20possible.%3Cbr%3E%22I%20know%20what%20it%20was%20like%20when%20I%20was%20younger%20and%20learning%20off%20senior%20players.%3Cbr%3E%22Last%20season%20Sanchit%20kick-started%20our%20season%20in%20Abu%20Dhabi%20with%20a%20brilliant%20man-of-the-match%20performance.%3Cbr%3E%22Coming%20into%20this%20one%2C%20I%20have%20seen%20a%20lot%20of%20improvement.%20The%20focus%20he%20is%20showing%20will%20only%20stand%20him%20in%20good%20stead.%22%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
MATCH INFO
Final: England v South Africa, Saturday, 1pm
TRAINING FOR TOKYO
A typical week's training for Sebastian, who is competing at the ITU Abu Dhabi World Triathlon on March 8-9:
- Four swim sessions (14km)
- Three bike sessions (200km)
- Four run sessions (45km)
- Two strength and conditioning session (two hours)
- One session therapy session at DISC Dubai
- Two-three hours of stretching and self-maintenance of the body
ITU Abu Dhabi World Triathlon
For more information go to www.abudhabi.triathlon.org.
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
UAE%20SQUAD
%3Cp%3EMuhammad%20Waseem%20(captain)%2C%20Aayan%20Khan%2C%20Aryan%20Lakra%2C%20Ashwanth%20Valthapa%2C%20Asif%20Khan%2C%20Aryansh%20Sharma%2C%20CP%20Rizwaan%2C%20Hazrat%20Billal%2C%20Junaid%20Siddique%2C%20Karthik%20Meiyappan%2C%20Rohan%20Mustafa%2C%20Vriitya%20Aravind%2C%20Zahoor%20Khan%20and%20Zawar%20Farid.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Price: From Dh215,900
On sale: Now
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.”
THE BIO
Ambition: To create awareness among young about people with disabilities and make the world a more inclusive place
Job Title: Human resources administrator, Expo 2020 Dubai
First jobs: Co-ordinator with Magrudy Enterprises; HR coordinator at Jumeirah Group
Entrepreneur: Started his own graphic design business
Favourite singer: Avril Lavigne
Favourite travel destination: Germany and Saudi Arabia
Family: Six sisters
