A Syrian boy removes a dead chicken from the debris of a building hit by an air strike in Idlib, Syria. REUTERS
Internally displaced Syrian boys play on a mobile phone outside a tent in Azaz, Syria. REUTERS
Internally displaced Syrian girls carry their belongings in an IDP camp located in Sarmada in Idlib province, Syria. REUTERS
Clothes hang to dry on a cluster of branches in Azaz, Syria. REUTERS
Fighters drive through Idlib city center from Saraqeb in Idlib province, Syria. REUTERS
A relative of a wounded fighter waits for the end of his surgery in a hospital in Idlib, Syria. REUTERS
Internally displaced Syrian boys stand near tents in Azaz, Syria. REUTERS
An internally displaced woman with a child on her lap prepares food outside a tent in Azaz, Syria. REUTERS
An internally displaced Syrian girl collects firewood for cooking, in Azaz, Syria. REUTERS
Turkish ambassador to the United Nations Feridun Sinirlioglu speaks with U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft alone following a Security Council meeting about the situation in Syria at United Nations Headquarters in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S. REUTERS
Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres speaks during a Security Council meeting about the situation in Syria at U.N. Headquarters in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S. REUTERS
Last week marked the 75th anniversary of the signing of the UN Charter, the foundational treaty of the United Nations. It passed uneventfully, in part due to the world's preoccupation with the coronavirus pandemic, but also because the UN is not the robust, muscular organisation it was intended to become following its formation in 1945.
The UN General Assembly (UNGA) will not convene in New York in September, as it does every year. In which case, the pandemic will have had a major impact on how global decision making will be carried out in the future.
One of the UNGA's mandates is conflict resolution, which sadly remains a challenge in many parts of the world.
The conflict in Syria, for instance, has dragged on endlessly. Even as an estimated 700,000 people have lost their lives, respected statesmen from Kofi Annan and Lakhdar Brahimi to the current envoy Geir Pedersen have failed in their roles as UN-appointed negotiators to bring lasting peace to the country.
UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen is among many high-profile figures trying to bring peace to the country. AFP
It isn't their fault, of course. The blame for Syria's predicament lies mostly at a very divided UN Security Council's door. Unfortunately for the UN, its reputation as a peacemaker has been in tatters since the 1990s, when on its own it failed to resolve conflict and end bloodshed in countries such as Bosnia and Rwanda.
So the answer to the question of how to achieve peace in today's increasingly complex world perhaps lies in changing how humankind negotiates with one another.
The traditional negotiating process, known as Track One diplomacy, involves the UN, national governments and elite-level politicians. But it excludes non-state actors such as NGOs, civil society groups and private citizens, who may be key to the process given their access to power at crucial levels. There are limitations to this process as a consequence of key constituents being left out of negotiations.
With many conflicts in the world yet to be resolved, Track Two diplomacy, a term coined by the American diplomat Joseph Montville as far back as 1981, could be the future of peacemaking.
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the leader of the Taliban delegation, signs an agreement with Zalmay Khalilzad, US envoy for peace in Afghanistan, at a signing agreement ceremony between members of Afghanistan's Taliban and the US in Doha, Qatar February 29, 2020. Reuters
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo walks ahead of the signing of an agreement between members of Afghanistan's Taliban delegation and the US government in Doha, Qatar. Reuters
Members of Afghanistan's Taliban delegation speak to the media ahead of an agreement signing between them and US officials in Doha, Qatar. Reuters
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu walks ahead of the signing of an agreement between members of Afghanistan's Taliban delegation and the US government in Doha, Qatar. Reuters
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg attends a joint press conference with Afghan President Ghani and US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper on the declaration of a peace deal to be signed between the US and the Taliban, at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan. EPA
US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper attends a joint press conference with Afghan President Ghani and NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg on the declaration of a peace deal to be signed between the US and the Taliban, at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan. EPA
Members of the Taliban delegation gather ahead of an agreement signing between them and US officials in Doha, Qatar. Reuters
The UN has been involved in efforts to bring peace to Afghanistan, Libya, sub-Saharan Africa and, of course, Syria. Yet the most substantive work towards this end is being done by so-called conflict resolution centres. Key among them are organisations such as the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue in Geneva, the Berghof Foundation in Berlin and the European Institute of Peace in Brussels. Interestingly, they are all headed by former UN officials who have witnessed the failures of the system from close quarters.
Other examples include the Atlanta-based Carter Centre, headed by the former US president Jimmy Carter, and Crisis Management Initiative, a group founded by the former Finland president Martti Ahtisaari in Helsinki.
A crucial aspect of Track Two diplomacy is that it offers an opportunity for people who genuinely matter to make decisions that will affect their own countries or regions. Unfortunately, it is a much less preferred and pursued method given that it is time-consuming and requires more dialogue and mediation than traditional peacemaking does.
The former US president Jimmy Carter continues to be involved in diplomacy. The Carter Centre
“It’s never a quick fix. These processes can take years and years,” says Andrew Gilmour, executive director at the Berghof Foundation and formerly the assistant secretary general for human rights at the UN. “It requires tremendous patience, but also ego-lessness has to be a key factor."
Conflict resolution centres also need to play the role of a referee in any given mediation process. "You can’t boast that, 'I was the mediator'," Mr Gilmour says. "You need local ownership, as the parties to conflict need to really know that the violence ended as a result of their will, their actions, their sacrifices, their skills.”
At these levels, who you talk to also assumes importance.
A decade ago, for instance, it would have been unthinkable to include the Taliban into negotiations to end the war in Afghanistan. Or, for that matter, bringing Farc in from the cold for the sake of peace in Colombia.
Former US ambassador to Syria Robert S Ford has called for some armed groups to be included in negotiations. Victor Besa / The National
Likewise in Syria, there is a case to be made for inviting armed groups to the negotiating table, as Robert S Ford, the former US Ambassador to Syria, has recommended. UN officials could not be seen talking to these groups. But others could.
“We will always need the UN because of the universality and legitimacy it brings,” says Mr Gilmour. “But there will be increasing co-operation with foundations like Berghof.”
Much like Covid-19 is forcing us to be creative in all aspects of life and work, we should also be thinking out of the box when it comes to diplomacy in the 21st century. The advantage of Track 2 is that it allows for more agility, which lumbering international organisations lack. Perhaps, then, Track 2 can achieve conflict resolution and lasting peace where the likes of the UN has failed.
Janine di Giovanni is a Senior Fellow at Yale’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs
World Cup final
Who: France v Croatia When: Sunday, July 15, 7pm (UAE) TV: Game will be shown live on BeIN Sports for viewers in the Mena region
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UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
FTO designations impose immigration restrictions on members of the organisation simply by virtue of their membership and triggers a criminal prohibition on knowingly providing material support or resources to the designated organisation as well as asset freezes.
It is a crime for a person in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to knowingly provide “material support or resources” to or receive military-type training from or on behalf of a designated FTO.
Representatives and members of a designated FTO, if they are aliens, are inadmissible to and, in certain circumstances removable from, the United States.
Except as authorised by the Secretary of the Treasury, any US financial institution that becomes aware that it has possession of or control over funds in which an FTO or its agent has an interest must retain possession of or control over the funds and report the funds to the Treasury Department.
2013 Blue is the Warmest Colour (La Vie d'Adèle: Chapitres 1 et 2), Abdellatif Kechiche, Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux
2012Amour, Michael Haneke
2011 The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick
2010 Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Lung Bunmi Raluek Chat), Apichatpong Weerasethakul
2009The White Ribbon (Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte), Michael Haneke
2008 The Class (Entre les murs), Laurent Cantet
The National in Davos
We are bringing you the inside story from the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, a gathering of hundreds of world leaders, top executives and billionaires.
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
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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.”
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