Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El Sisi met his top military commanders on Sunday to review security in the Sinai Peninsula one day after militants killed 11 soldiers including an officer.
Mr El Sisi reviewed with the generals “measures taken to pursue the militants on the run and destroy them” during the meeting of the Supreme Armed Forces Council, the president’s office said.
He also directed the generals to “complete the purge of some areas in northern Sinai from terrorists and takfiris and to continue implementing security measures contributing to the eradication of all forms of terrorism”.
The president’s office said Mr Sisi paid tribute to the armed forces’ counterterrorism efforts in the Sinai Peninsula, a vast and mostly desert region that stretches from the Mediterranean coast in the north to the Red Sea in the south.
The wording of the statement appeared to suggest that a strong response to Saturday’s attack, the deadliest in months, was almost certain. On Saturday the military said troops were pursuing the attackers.
The attack, which occurred just east of the Suez Canal, wounded five soldiers, the military said.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack, which bore the hallmarks of the ISIS-led militants active in the north-east corner of the Sinai Peninsula close to the borders of the Gaza Strip and Israel.
Mr El Sisi, who has made security a cornerstone of his seven-year rule, offered his condolences to the families of the victims and wished the wounded a full and quick recovery.
“These treacherous attacks will not undermine the resolve and will of the sons of this nation and its armed forces to uproot terrorism,” he wrote on Facebook on Saturday.
The UAE, one of Egypt’s closest allies and backers, strongly condemned the attack.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation reaffirmed the UAE’s rejection of violence aimed at destabilising security and stability, and its solidarity with Egypt in confronting terrorists.
Egyptian soldiers and police, often backed by fighter jets, helicopter gunships and tanks, have been fighting militants in northern Sinai for years.
In 2018, the government launched a major offensive against the militants, dislodging them from most of their strongholds in northern Sinai, a rugged and thinly populated region of mountains and desert.
Saturday’s attack came two weeks after Mr El Sisi said a total of 3,277 service members from the army and police had been killed fighting militants since 2013. More than 12,000 have been injured, he said.
“We have settled the issue there but the cost was very high,” Mr El Sisi said on April 27. ”We will only declare the end of terrorism in Sinai when we have cleared all the roadside bombs there.”
The number of attacks blamed on militants surged after the 2013 removal of president Mohammed Morsi, a member of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood, amid a popular uprising against his divisive one-year rule. Their frequency was reduced dramatically after the 2018 offensive.
Isolated acts of violence has continued, including the kidnapping and killing of civilians suspected of working for the military or members of tribes that have openly sided with the government.
There have also been attacks on small, remote police and army outposts.
The specs
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
If you go
The flights
There are various ways of getting to the southern Serengeti in Tanzania from the UAE. The exact route and airstrip depends on your overall trip itinerary and which camp you’re staying at.
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Kilimanjaro International Airport from Dh1,350 return, including taxes; this can be followed by a short flight from Kilimanjaro to the Serengeti with Coastal Aviation from about US$700 (Dh2,500) return, including taxes. Kenya Airways, Emirates and Etihad offer flights via Nairobi or Dar es Salaam.
How Islam's view of posthumous transplant surgery changed
Transplants from the deceased have been carried out in hospitals across the globe for decades, but in some countries in the Middle East, including the UAE, the practise was banned until relatively recently.
Opinion has been divided as to whether organ donations from a deceased person is permissible in Islam.
The body is viewed as sacred, during and after death, thus prohibiting cremation and tattoos.
One school of thought viewed the removal of organs after death as equally impermissible.
That view has largely changed, and among scholars and indeed many in society, to be seen as permissible to save another life.
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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
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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.”
