Khartoum International Airport was hit by a drone attack early on Tuesday, a day before it was due to reopen for the first time since Sudan's civil war broke out more than two and a half years ago.
Witnesses in the capital's greater region said they heard explosions from the vicinity of the airport shortly after seeing drones flying low over the city in its direction. Other sites in the capital region were also attacked, residents reported, including a power transformer in Omdurman and areas surrounding an oil refinery in northern Khartoum.
Omdurman is one of three cities that comprise the Sudanese capital, together with Khartoum and Bahri. The greater capital area, however, is commonly known simply as Khartoum.
Witnesses said the saw objects in the sky before hearing explosions. "We saw flashes of light in the darkness before dawn and heard the sound of blasts before we could see columns of thick black smoke rising skyward," said Osman Hamza, who lives in Omdurman.
Another Omdurman resident, Mohammed Ibrahim, said the explosions were so loud, he thought the house next door had been blown up. "It felt like the war returned to Khartoum," he said.
"It is not unlikely now that my family and I will leave the city if this happens again," said Mr Ibrahim, who suspected the explosions were the result of kamikaze drones hitting military sites in the city.
Later on Tuesday, the army chief and de facto ruler Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan visited the airport and addressed the nation from there. In the televised speech, he vowed to defeat the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and never to allow the paramilitary to be part of Sudan's future.
"This tyrannical gang will never be allowed to hurt you," he said as he stood on the tarmac with the airport's terminal in the background. "We in the armed forces are determined to provide protection to our people in Sudan. We will do and achieve this."
There was no immediate comment on Tuesday's the attacks from the RSF, which is led Gen Mohamed Dagalo, Gen Al Burhan's former ally.
In May, the RSF launched a wave of drone attacks at a military airbase that is part of the international airport at the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, the temporary seat of the military-backed government.
They have also attacked fuel depots there as well as infrastructure sites north and south of the capital.
Tuesday's attacks, which began before dawn, came a day after Sudan's Civil Aviation Authority said the airport would reopen on Wednesday, with the gradual resumption of domestic flights when technical and operational preparations were completed.
The airport was swiftly seized by the RSF during the opening days of the war. The paramilitary then moved to capture most of the sprawling capital, territory regained by the army and allied militias in March this year. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage caused by the attack.
Khartoum has remained relatively calm since being retaken by the army and its allied militias but attack drones are still being launched, with the RSF repeatedly accused of attacking military and civilian sites.
Tuesday's strike is the third such attack on the capital this month. Last week, drones hit Khartoum on two consecutive days, striking army bases in the city's north-west. A military official said most of the drones were intercepted.
With no sign of the civil war abating, the army controls the capital as well as eastern, central and northern Sudan. The RSF, whose forerunner was a notorious militia known as the Janjaweed, controls all of Darfur – except the army-held city of El Fasher – and parts of Kordofan to the south and south-west of the vast, Afro-Arab nation.
El Fasher has been besieged by the RSF since May 2024 and is the scene of near-daily clashes between the paramilitary and the army and its allies.
There are no reliable casualty figures from the war, which is widely believed to have killed tens of thousands of people. The fighting has also displaced more than 13 million people and left more than 25 million others facing hunger or caught in pockets of famine in parts of the country.
Al Shafie Ahmed was reporting from Kampala, Uganda
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.”
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
Off-roading in the UAE: How to checklist
Fifa Club World Cup:
When: December 6-16
Where: Games to take place at Zayed Sports City in Abu Dhabi and Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain
Defending champions: Real Madrid
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
SQUADS
South Africa:
Faf du Plessis (capt), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock (wkt), AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Dane Paterson, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada
Coach: Ottis Gibson
Bangladesh:
Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Imrul Kayes, Liton Das (wkt), Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (wkt), Mustafizur Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Tamim Iqbal, Taskin Ahmed.
Coach: Chandika Hathurusingha
