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Dressed in a yellowing white robe, an elderly man with a thin silver beard and a sun-kissed face slowly turns his head away and pauses when asked about his experience at the overland crossing between Sudan and Egypt.
“Al Ghareeb Adeeb,” or “the outsider is always polite,” he said in a faint voice before he smiled and fell silent again.
“Allah kareem!” or “God is generous,” he said seconds later.
Not every Sudanese who fled the fighting in Sudan between the army and a powerful paramilitary to find refuge in Egypt was as cautious or tactful as the elderly man was when it came to details of their journey to safety.
Many among them were happy, or perhaps frustrated enough, to recount the irony of how they escaped the artillery shelling, air strikes and gunfire in Khartoum only to face another ordeal when they thought they reached safety at the two overland crossings with Egypt: Argeen and Qastal.
They spoke of days of overcrowding, suffocating heat and of nights spent on an uncomfortable bus seat or out in the open. They recounted lack — or scarcity at best — of essential services like food, water and toilets.
Those who shared their accounts said they did not feel unwelcome or resented in Egypt. They complained of bureaucratic inefficiency that caused lengthy delays and made fatigue from their 12-hour journey from Khartoum much worse.
Egypt often prides itself on being home to nine million foreign nationals who escaped fighting or came to find a better life. Egypt says they never had to spend a single day at a camp outside cities, as is the case in other countries in the region.
Seven of the nine million are believed to be Sudanese, whose social, economic and cultural bonds with Egyptians date back centuries and run deep.
Cases of racism against Sudanese nationals in Egypt are not uncommon, but they are infrequent. Tens of thousands of Egyptians live in Sudan, which has had a large Egyptian Coptic Christian community since the 19th century.
Sudanese are welcomed by local volunteers on their arrival at Karkar bus terminal, located at a village by the same name some 15 kilometres outside the southern city of Aswan.
As soon as the bus pulls over at the Karkar terminal, volunteers recognisable by their blue or red tabards, hand passengers snacks and a bottle of cold water. They also give them local sim cards with enough credit to make a few local calls.
It is also the point from which Sudanese buses cannot go farther. Passengers disembarking there get on minibuses to Cairo, Aswan or elsewhere in Egypt.
Some Aswan residents are offering Sudanese families free accommodation.
“We have also enforced a fixed fare for the ride to Cairo because the drivers were getting too greedy,” said Mohammed Sidi, a volunteer from the nearby village of Karkar.
“Four hundred Egyptian pounds ($13) to Cairo and 20 pounds to Aswan are about right.”
A Sudanese banker who last week escaped the fighting in Khartoum’s twin city of Bahri arrived in Aswan this week with about 50 relatives, friends and neighbours.
The ride, he said, cost $15,000.
“We had four days of absolute hell on the Sudanese side,” he said.
“The Egyptian side was better organised, but appeared to be working on a minimum capacity, allowing busloads of Sudanese to pile up by the dozens on the other side and only allowing two to four buses at a time to cross into the Egyptian side.”
The banker, who did not want to be named, spoke to The National at a hotel in a Nubian village near Aswan where he and 16 family members stayed.
On Sunday morning, he, his family and some relatives left for Cairo, a 12-hour ride and 1,000 kilometres to the north.
He complained that the Sudanese side of the border at the Argeen crossing, about 350 kilometres south of Aswan, frequently ran out of drinking water and had little food for the thousands there.
His account was corroborated by other Sudanese.
It was Argeen that met the initial rush of Sudanese refugees escaping to Egypt, but it was quiet on Sunday except for a handful of reporters and western relief workers. Egyptian army troops backed by armoured personnel carriers guarded the crossing.
Traffic from Sudan to Argeen was directed to Qastal at the weekend, according to security officials.
Back in the Karkar bus terminal, Sudanese refugees spoke of how they waited for a day or two at Argeen before they were directed to Qastal, also known as Ashkeet.
“At Argeen, women and men shared a mosque washroom,” said Mohammed Othman, 27, from Khartoum, who arrived in Egypt on Saturday.
“At the Egyptian side, there were two toilets, but there was such a huge demand on them that many preferred to relieve themselves in the desert,” he said.
“I stood for nine hours in a packed room waiting to be given back my passport,” he said.
A video he took with his mobile showed a bare room with paint peeling from the walls and men and women standing shoulder-to-shoulder waiting to be given back their passports so they could enter Egypt.
“There was just one official stamping passports and another entering data in a computer. Just those two and we were thousands of men, women and children. All tired, hungry and sleep deprived,” he said.
His sister Mariam, who arrived on Sunday through Qastal, was just as unhappy. She said she spent the night in her bus seat on the Sudanese border town of Wadi Halfa.
Nazar Al Tigany, a telecoms engineer from Khartoum, drove his SUV to Egypt with his wife and daughter. It took them six days to complete the journey, having stopped in two northern Sudanese towns between Khartoum and Egypt.
“I have plenty of contacts across Sudan because of my job, so my journey was fairly comfortable, except for when I arrived at Qastal. It took the Egyptian authorities 20 hours to process my car documents,” he told The National at a roadside cafe near Abu Simbel, home to one of the most majestic ancient Egyptian temples.
The fighting in Sudan broke out on April 15 between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The fighting is mainly in Khartoum and the western region of Darfur.
The Sudan Doctors’ Union said at the weekend that 425 civilians were killed and 2,091 wounded so far in the fighting. The Sudanese Health Ministry on Saturday estimated the overall death toll, including fighters, at 528, with 4,500 wounded.
The UN believes the death toll could be much higher in reality.
Besides Egypt, Sudanese are also fleeing to neighbouring Ethiopia, Chad and Republic of Central Africa.
Most of those who remain in Khartoum are unable to leave their homes and are struggling with dwindling supplies and no power or water.
A series of ceasefires have been announced and agreed to by the two warring sides, but breaches have been common with each side blaming the other for the violations.
Super Saturday race card
4pm: Mahab Al Shimaal Group 3 | US$350,000 | (Dirt) | 1,200m
4.35pm: Al Bastakiya Listed | $300,000 | (D) | 1,900m
5.10pm: Nad Al Sheba Turf Group 3 | $350,000 | (Turf) | 1,200m
5.45pm: Burj Nahaar Group 3 | $350,000 | (D) | 1,600m
6.20pm: Dubai City of Gold Group 2 | $300,000 | (T) | 2,410m
6.55pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 Group 1 | $600,000 | (D) | 2,000m
7.30pm: Jebel Hatta Group 1 | $400,000 | (T) | 1,800m
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Director: Lana Wachowski
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jessica Henwick
Rating:****
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
MATCH INFO
Europa League final
Who: Marseille v Atletico Madrid
Where: Parc OL, Lyon, France
When: Wednesday, 10.45pm kick off (UAE)
TV: BeIN Sports
Company profile
Company: Rent Your Wardrobe
Date started: May 2021
Founder: Mamta Arora
Based: Dubai
Sector: Clothes rental subscription
Stage: Bootstrapped, self-funded
What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
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.”
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Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
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- 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
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Company profile
Name: Tharb
Started: December 2016
Founder: Eisa Alsubousi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: Luxury leather goods
Initial investment: Dh150,000 from personal savings
Profile of Foodics
Founders: Ahmad AlZaini and Mosab AlOthmani
Based: Riyadh
Sector: Software
Employees: 150
Amount raised: $8m through seed and Series A - Series B raise ongoing
Funders: Raed Advanced Investment Co, Al-Riyadh Al Walid Investment Co, 500 Falcons, SWM Investment, AlShoaibah SPV, Faith Capital, Technology Investments Co, Savour Holding, Future Resources, Derayah Custody Co.
Brief scoreline:
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Al Menhali 27', Tagliabue 79'
Al Nassr 3
Hamdallah 41', Giuliano 45 1', 62'
Genesis G80 2020 5.0-litre Royal Specs
Engine: 5-litre V8
Gearbox: eight-speed automatic
Power: 420hp
Torque: 505Nm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.4L/100km
Price: Dh260,500
The Way It Was: My Life with Frank Sinatra by Eliot Weisman and Jennifer Valoppi
Hachette Books
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Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes