After a six-year lull in major incidents, Somali pirates struck twice last week with the seizure of two boats in the Red Sea, adding to the turmoil in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes after missile and drone attacks from Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The attacks increase pressure on international shipping companies to follow the lead of Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd and abandon the route to the Suez Canal and reroute vessels around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope. If oil companies do likewise, the price of oil could increase as Europe enters the cold winter months.
On Friday night, Somali pirates hijacked a commercial dhow in the waters off the Yemeni island of Socotra – once a haven for pirates. It is believed to be en route to Eyl, a coastal town in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region where militants from Al Shabab, Al Qaeda’s wealthiest affiliate, are in control. They dislodged a small group of rival ISIS backers from the town in a recent battle, creating speculation they are involved in the hijackings and will offer the pirates protection in return for a cut of any loot.
A few days earlier, Somali pirates operating from speed boats off Puntland captured the MV Reun, a Malta-registered cargo vessel, and took 18 crew members hostage. Sources close to the hijackers and Al Shabab say ransom negotiations are under way with the ship's owners.
The sources confirmed one pirate was injured and 17 other pirates are still on board the vessel.
Several foreign warships, led by an Indian vessel taking part in a Red Sea protection squadron, are in pursuit of the pirates but have failed to prevent them from steering the vessel towards the coast of Somalia.
“The MV Reun is now being held in a remote coastal location between Qandala and Haabow. The pirates have agreed to a 70-30 ransom-sharing agreement with Al Shabab to provide them with extra protection on MV Reun,” said Ahmed Mohamed, a resident with links to the pirate gang.
“Negotiations have started between the pirates and ship owners,” he added.
The renewed hijackings come after Yemeni Houthi rebels targeted ships with links to Israel in retaliation to the ongoing military offensive by Israel on the Gaza Strip, leading the US to send warships to the area to protect shipping.
Political tensions in Puntland ahead of elections in January might have also encouraged the re-emergence of the pirates.
“This time, the pirates now hunting ships are mostly aggrieved fishermen. The Puntland administration has awarded around 300 licences to Iranian boats fishing in Puntland," security analyst Abdi Ali said by telephone from Mogadishu.
He said local fishermen complain that they are being harassed by the Iranian boats, which have much more sophisticated equipment and are making it difficult for them to make a living.
Egypt's Suez Canal provides the shortest link between the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic and is the favoured route for many ships sailing to Europe and North America from Asia and Australia. This makes the Gulf of Aden an attractive place for pirates.
“Another smaller dhow has also been hijacked by another group of pirates today and taken to Eyl along the Indian Ocean and there are also other pirates currently in the deep-sea hunting for more ships,” Mohamed, the Eyl resident, said on Sunday. “More will certainly come soon.”
Between 2008 and 2018, pirates freely prowled the waters off Somalia, hijacking ships along the longest coastline in Africa. It took the combined efforts of multinational antipiracy maritime missions to stop them. The leaders retired, many to new homes built with the proceeds of their business along the northern Somali coastline, while others moved into commercial fishing.
WHAT FANS WILL LOVE ABOUT RUSSIA
FANS WILL LOVE
Uber is ridiculously cheap and, as Diego Saez discovered, mush safer. A 45-minute taxi from Pulova airport to Saint Petersburg’s Nevsky Prospect can cost as little as 500 roubles (Dh30).
FANS WILL LOATHE
Uber policy in Russia is that they can start the fare as soon as they arrive at the pick-up point — and oftentimes they start it even before arriving, or worse never arrive yet charge you anyway.
FANS WILL LOVE
It’s amazing how active Russians are on social media and your accounts will surge should you post while in the country. Throw in a few Cyrillic hashtags and watch your account numbers rocket.
FANS WILL LOATHE
With cold soups, bland dumplings and dried fish, Russian cuisine is not to everybody’s tastebuds. Fortunately, there are plenty Georgian restaurants to choose from, which are both excellent and economical.
FANS WILL LOVE
The World Cup will take place during St Petersburg's White Nights Festival, which means perpetual daylight in a city that genuinely never sleeps. (Think toddlers walking the streets with their grandmothers at 4am.)
FANS WILL LOATHE
The walk from Krestovsky Ostrov metro station to Saint Petersburg Arena on a rainy day makes you wonder why some of the $1.7 billion was not spent on a weather-protected walkway.
Dirham Stretcher tips for having a baby in the UAE
Selma Abdelhamid, the group's moderator, offers her guide to guide the cost of having a young family:
• Buy second hand stuff
They grow so fast. Don't get a second hand car seat though, unless you 100 per cent know it's not expired and hasn't been in an accident.
• Get a health card and vaccinate your child for free at government health centres
Ms Ma says she discovered this after spending thousands on vaccinations at private clinics.
• Join mum and baby coffee mornings provided by clinics, babysitting companies or nurseries.
Before joining baby classes ask for a free trial session. This way you will know if it's for you or not. You'll be surprised how great some classes are and how bad others are.
• Once baby is ready for solids, cook at home
Take the food with you in reusable pouches or jars. You'll save a fortune and you'll know exactly what you're feeding your child.
The biog
Family: He is the youngest of five brothers, of whom two are dentists.
Celebrities he worked on: Fabio Canavaro, Lojain Omran, RedOne, Saber Al Rabai.
Where he works: Liberty Dental Clinic
Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
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.”
Day 2, stumps
Pakistan 482
Australia 30/0 (13 ov)
Australia trail by 452 runs with 10 wickets remaining in the innings
