A leading US official who visited Sudan last week criticised the country’s military leaders for the continuing use of violence against peaceful protesters and the arrest of pro-democracy activists.
Sudan’s military leaders could face consequences, Assistant Secretary of State Molly Phee said late on Monday.
Ms Phee and the US special envoy for the Horn of Africa, David Satterfield, met Sudan’s army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and other leading generals when they visited Khartoum last week.
Gen Al Burhan, who led a coup three months ago that upended Sudan’s democratic transition, promised after meeting the two diplomats to start a national dialogue to find a way out of the country's deepening political crisis. He also promised to investigate the killing of protesters since the October 25 coup.
The coup sparked a wave of mass street protests to demand civilian rule. The demonstrations have been met with deadly violence by security forces, who have used live rounds, stun grenades and tear gas. At least 76 people have been killed and more than 2,000 wounded.
Three were killed on Monday, two in Khartoum and one in the city of Wad Medani, south of the capital.
“After SE [special envoy] Satterfield and I met military leaders … they publicly committed to dialogue to resolve the current crisis,” Ms Phee wrote on Twitter. “Yet their actions – more violence against protesters, detention of civil society activists – tell a different story, and will have consequences.”
The US has been among the most vocal critics of the Sudanese military since the October 25 coup, suspending aid worth hundreds of millions of dollars. It has said there would be no resumption of aid until a civilian government is in office. Ms Phee did not say what further action Washington would take against the military.
Gen Al Burhan, who has promised a free election for 2023, has repeatedly said he will investigate the killing of protesters since the coup as well as sexual assaults on female demonstrators during a rally last month.
The general, however, has consistently failed to explain who will be investigating, the scope of the investigation or when findings will be publicised.
Similarly, Gen Al Burhan signed off on a high-profile, independent investigation into the killing of about 100 protesters in June 2019. The violence happened when security forces broke up a sit-in protest outside the headquarters of the armed forces in central Khartoum.
The investigation, led by a prominent lawyer, was due to present its findings by early 2020. Activists claim that the army's top brass have stymied the inquiry for fear it could implicate them.
Separately, a medical group aligned with the pro-democracy movement said that besides the three killed on Monday, at least 100 others were injured, of whom 32 suffered gunshot wounds. It also accused the security forces of deliberately hindering medics from taking the wounded to hospitals.
In one case, they fired warning shots at the entrance of the Royal Care hospital in Khartoum to stop the medics from taking the wounded inside, said the group, the Central Committee of Sudan's Doctors.
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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.”
