Sudan rivals could use drones to monitor 24-hour truce

Sudan’s warring parties have discussed a potential 24-hour ceasefire deal that would be monitored by surveillance drones.

Fighting across the three cities that make up Sudan's greater capital region – Khartoum, Bahri and Omdurman – has picked up after a 12-day ceasefire between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces formally expired on June 3. It was breached repeatedly.

A new ceasefire is now being considered, a representative from the RSF said.

“The proposal includes imposing sanctions on the party that will violate the truce, and negotiations will be suspended permanently in the event that the two sides do not adhere to them,” Mustafa Ibrahim, a member of the advisory office of the commander of the RSF, told the Arab World News Agency.

The RSF representative said that monitoring of the truce by the US and Saudi Arabia, which are mediating negotiations, “will be more rigorous, and it will be done through surveillance drones”.

The RSF, in the eighth week of a power struggle with the Sudanese army, attacked the heavily protected Yarmouk complex on Tuesday, witnesses said.

The group posted videos on Wednesday in which it claimed to have taken over a warehouse filled with weapons and ammunition.

A joint Saudi-US statement released on Tuesday said delegations from Sudan’s army and the RSF were continuing indirect talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

The talks aim to outline ways to allow humanitarian aid to reach those in need, as well as steps that both parties must take before officially resuming the Jeddah talks.

Smoke rises over Sudan's capital Khartoum as the country is gripped by conflict. AP

Several countries that make up the Friends of Sudan group called on the warring parties to fully return to the negotiation table in Jeddah “to resolve issues related to violations, and to reach a ceasefire agreement that will be fully respected".

The statement, signed by the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the US, Britain, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden and the EU, expressed deep concern about the “continuing violence and the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Sudan", in addition to reports of human rights breaches and the looting of humanitarian aid.

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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Sudan rivals could use drones to monitor 24-hour truce

Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces are continuing indirect talks

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