Large explosion near army headquarters in Khartoum as Sudan Eid ceasefire ends

An Eid Al Adha truce was brought to an abrupt end on Thursday as a powerful explosion near Sudan's army headquarters was felt across the capital Khartoum.

Residents said fighting between rival forces resumed on the second day of Eid Al Adha, as columns of smoke rose from the explosion site.

Ceasefires announced separately by the warring generals for the holiday were supposed to halt fighting, but sporadic clashes were reported.

Deadly fighting since mid-April between forces loyal to army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has left millions of Khartoum residents trapped, rationing electricity and water in the oppressive heat.

Residents 7km away from the army headquarters “felt the tremor in their walls,” one of them told AFP.

The source of the explosion could not be immediately verified, and there was no immediate word on casualties.

In north-west Khartoum, army fighter jets launched strikes on RSF troops, witnesses said.

The war between Gen Al Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Dagalo, has killed at least 2,800 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

The tally is a conservative estimate, with many of the wounded unable to reach health centres and bodies left to rot in the streets in both Khartoum and the western region of Darfur, where most of the violence has occurred.

More than two million have been displaced within and beyond Sudan's borders.

The fighting, which erupted on April 15, has shown no signs of abating as experts say both sides refuse to negotiate before claiming military advantage.

Gen Al Burhan this week called for Sudanese “youth and all those able to defend” to take up arms with the military to defend against the “existential threat” posed by the RSF.

The call has been widely rejected by civilians, who are raising alarm that what began as a power struggle between generals is spiralling into a protracted civil conflict.

The UN has warned that attacks by the RSF and allied ethnically Arab militias in Darfur could constitute “crimes against humanity”.

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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.”