At least one person was killed and 331 injured when security forces used live rounds, rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse tens of thousands who took to the streets of Khartoum on Sunday to demand an end to military rule in Sudan, an authoritative medical group said.
The protests in Khartoum and elsewhere in the country were among the largest since a military takeover in October derailed Sudan's democratic transition and led to a political crisis.
A November 21 deal that reinstated Abdalla Hamdok, the prime minister of the civilian-led government dismissed by the military, fuelled street protests. For the protesters, the deal turned the former UN economist from a symbol of hope to a traitor.
The Doctors' Central Association identified the person killed on Sunday as Mohammed Magzoub Mohammed Ahmed, 28. It said he was shot in the chest with a live round at the Khartoum district of East Nile.
The association is linked to the pro-democracy movement but has a reputation for meticulously verifying and tallying casualties of political violence since the December 2018 start of a popular uprising against dictator Omar Al Bashir.
It said the 331 suffered injuries caused by rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas. It listed only three cases of protesters suffering live gunshot wounds, besides Mr Ahmed.
In a separate report, the Health Ministry said 123 people were injured in Sunday's violence, and all but two were in Khartoum. The other two were in Kassala, in eastern Sudan. The report made no mention of fatalities.
There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy, but government figures on casualties during protests have routinely been on the conservative side.
Khartoum appeared tense on Monday, with hundreds of troops backed by armoured vehicles deployed across the city at intersections and near Nile bridges. Traffic in the sprawling metropolis was also unusually congested on Monday. There were no reports of renewed protests.
On Sunday, protesters were initially denied the use of Nile bridges linking the capital’s three main districts.
A tight security ring was thrown around the presidential palace and the headquarters of the military, both of which are in central Khartoum.
But the protesters, showing determination not seen in post-takeover rallies, braved tear gas and stun grenades, breaking through the lines of troops and police to march on the palace. Several thousand reached the palace’s gates and intended to stage a sit-in protest outside its walls.
Additional security forces later arrived at the scene and dispersed them with volleys of tear gas fired at quick succession, according to witnesses.
Sunday’s rallies, given their size and the resolve shown by their participants, have increased the pressure on Mr Hamdok and Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, the army chief and leader of the October takeover.
The pair will now have to quickly find a way out of the crisis or face renewed unrest that could spiral out of control and push the country towards chaos.
Sunday’s rallies marked the third anniversary of the start of the 2018 popular uprising that forced the military to remove Al Bashir from power in April 2019.
Behind the latest rallies are the Sudanese Professionals’ Association, the Forces for Freedom and Change, and the Resistance Committees, three main groups that engineered that 2018-2019 uprising.
“We call on our people to continue escalating resistance against the coup until power is handed over to the people,” the Forces for Freedom and Change said late on Sunday.
“The people will triumph and the December Revolution will not be defeated … we call on all forces of revolution and change to rally behind one popular front not just to defeat the coup but to build a new nation.”
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Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
Zayed Sustainability Prize
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
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.”
