Hours after a failed attempt on his life, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi held an extraordinary session of the Council of Ministers and said he knew who had tried to kill him.
“We will pursue the perpetrators of Sunday’s crime. We know them very well and we will expose them,” he said.
Three explosive-laden drones attacked Mr Al Kadhimi’s home in the highly secure Green Zone, which houses government buildings and international diplomatic missions, including the US embassy.
Troops and army tanks were stationed across the capital Baghdad after the assassination attempt. No group has claimed responsibility for the incident.
The council released a statement calling the attack “a serious targeting of the Iraqi state”.
On Sunday afternoon, the Commander of the Iran’s Quds Force, Brig Gen Esmael Qaani, flew to Baghdad and met Mr Al Kadhimi and President Barham Salih, two government officials told The National on Monday.
“It was a quick visit and lasted for only a few hours,” one official close to the prime minister said. “He denied any role of Iran in the attack and called for calm.”
He also met Hadi Al Amiri, who leads Badr Organisation and the Iran-backed Fatah Alliance bloc of politicians and militia commanders, the second official said.
Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to release information.
The attack was carried out by at least one Tehran-backed militia group, Iraqi security officials and sources close to the militias told Reuters. They said the drones and explosives used were Iranian-made.
A representative for one Iran-aligned paramilitary group declined to comment immediately on the attack or on who carried it out. Other Iran-backed groups could not be reached immediately for comment, and there was no immediate comment from the government in Tehran.
Joint Operations Command spokesman Maj Gen Tahsin Al Khafaji said Iraq’s security forces would “hunt down” those who undermine the country’s national security.
“The security forces are doing their duty and everything is going as planned,” he said, according to a report by Iraq’s state news agency, INA.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the perpetrators must be held to account and called on the Iraqi public to denounce all acts of violence.
“The UN will continue to support with the people and government of Iraq in their quest for a better future,” he said.
US President Joe Biden said his administration would “offer all appropriate assistance to Iraq’s security forces as they investigate the attack and identify those responsible”.
On Sunday, Iraq’s National Security Council formed a committee to investigate the assassination attempt.
Watch: Footage of the aftermath of the attempt
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
How it works
A $10 hand-powered LED light and battery bank
Device is operated by hand cranking it at any time during the day or night
The charge is stored inside a battery
The ratio is that for every minute you crank, it provides 10 minutes light on the brightest mode
A full hand wound charge is of 16.5minutes
This gives 1.1 hours of light on high mode or 2.5 hours of light on low mode
When more light is needed, it can be recharged by winding again
The larger version costs between $18-20 and generates more than 15 hours of light with a 45-minute charge
No limit on how many times you can charge
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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.”
