Workers unload bags of aid at a warehouse near the Syrian Bab Al Hawa border crossing with Turkey. AFP
Workers unload bags of aid at a warehouse near the Syrian Bab Al Hawa border crossing with Turkey. AFP
Workers unload bags of aid at a warehouse near the Syrian Bab Al Hawa border crossing with Turkey. AFP
Workers unload bags of aid at a warehouse near the Syrian Bab Al Hawa border crossing with Turkey. AFP

MENA

Syria

Damascus conditions for cross-border aid unacceptable, UN says

Global organisation expresses concern over Al Assad government rules for continuing humanitarian deliveries

The National

July 15, 2023

  • English
  • Arabic

The UN has criticised the “unacceptable conditions” set by Syria to allow aid to flow through its Bab Al Hawa crossing to rebel-held areas in north-west Syria after a security council vote failed to keep the crossing open.

A letter from Syrian authorities allowing use of the border crossing between Turkey and Syria “contains two unacceptable conditions”, said a document sent to the UN Security Council from the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

OCHA said it was concerned that the Syrian government had “stressed that the UN should not communicate with entities designated as terrorist”.

It said such engagement is “indispensable for gaining safe and timely access to civilians in need and is consistent with international humanitarian law”.

The second condition it bridled at was that the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent should “supervise and facilitate the distribution of humanitarian aid” in north-west Syria.

“The UN will need to engage to clarify any additional modalities for the delivery of humanitarian aid in north-west Syria,” OCHA wrote.

“Any such modalities must not infringe on the impartiality (based on needs alone), neutrality, and independence of the UN's humanitarian operations.”

Syria announced on Thursday that it would authorise the UN to use Bab Al Hawa to deliver vital humanitarian aid to millions of people in rebel-held areas for six months.

That announcement followed the expiration on Monday of the mandate of a mechanism that has allowed UN convoys since 2014 to use the crossing to rebel areas without authorisation from Damascus.

The 15-member council failed to reach an agreement on Tuesday to renew the mandate for the operation after Russia vetoed a proposed nine-month extension.

An alternative Russian proposal to renew the mandate under different conditions also failed, leaving the delivery of aid through the crossing uncertain.

Experts told The National on Friday that Russia's veto had effectively handed Syrian President Bashar Al Assad control over the four million people in the north-west territory.

The area was hit hard by an earthquake in February which killed 8,000 people in Syria and more than 45,000 in Turkey.

WHAT%20IS%20'JUICE%20JACKING'%3F
%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Juice%20jacking%2C%20in%20the%20simplest%20terms%2C%20is%20using%20a%20rogue%20USB%20cable%20to%20access%20a%20device%20and%20compromise%20its%20contents%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20The%20exploit%20is%20taken%20advantage%20of%20by%20the%20fact%20that%20the%20data%20stream%20and%20power%20supply%20pass%20through%20the%20same%20cable.%20The%20most%20common%20example%20is%20connecting%20a%20smartphone%20to%20a%20PC%20to%20both%20transfer%20data%20and%20charge%20the%20former%20at%20the%20same%20time%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20The%20term%20was%20first%20coined%20in%202011%20after%20researchers%20created%20a%20compromised%20charging%20kiosk%20to%20bring%20awareness%20to%20the%20exploit%3B%20when%20users%20plugged%20in%20their%20devices%2C%20they%20received%20a%20security%20warning%20and%20discovered%20that%20their%20phones%20had%20paired%20to%20the%20kiosk%2C%20according%20to%20US%20cybersecurity%20company%20Norton%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20While%20juice%20jacking%20is%20a%20real%20threat%2C%20there%20have%20been%20no%20known%20widespread%20instances.%20Apple%20and%20Google%20have%20also%20added%20security%20layers%20to%20prevent%20this%20on%20the%20iOS%20and%20Android%20devices%2C%20respectively%3C%2Fp%3E%0A

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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You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”

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