ABU DHABI // The bodies of Emirati servicemen Lance Corporal Soliman Mohammed Soliman Al Dhohouri and Sergeant Nader Mubarak Eisa Soliman, who were martyred in Yemen, have been buried by their families.
The General Command of the Armed Forces announced that the two died while performing their duty as part of Operation Restoring Hope, being conducted by the Saudi-led Arab Coalition to support and restore the legitimate government of Yemen to power.
The UAE is a member of the coalition which has fought a near two-year campaign against the Iran-allied Houthis.
According to Abdullah, Al Dhohouri’s brother, the serviceman was delighted to return to Yemen after returning home from a nine-month tour of duty.
A week after cutting his leave short for redeployment he fell in combat. News of the 33-year-old’s death reached his family on Friday morning.
“He had finished his service and they summoned him again while he was on a 10-day holiday,” said Abdullah, who saw his brother a week ago.
“He said: ‘This is a joy for me’. He left feeling very proud and happy. He said: ‘If I become a martyr it is better’.”
Abdullah said: “He called his wife on Saturday to tell he arrived in Yemen, and after that we did not hear from him. When we tried calling, his phone was switched off.”
Abdullah, a year Al Dhohouri’s junior, said his brother was full of warrior’s spirit and enthusiasm.
“Whenever he received a call telling him his flight was today he became very happy.”
Al Dhohouri joined the army after high school in 2000, and has served with the Armed Forces’ humanitarian missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Eritrea and Jordan, before joining coalition operations in Yemen in 2016.
“He never spoke about what he came across during the war (in Yemen). He used to say these are military secrets, but he always used to say: ‘may Allah grant them patience’,” said Abdullah.
Al Dhohouri is survived by his parents, six brothers, wife and daughter, 10, and son, 8. Half of his brothers are in the army or police force.
The UAE also mourned Sergeant Nader Mubarak Eisa Soliman, 45, who died of a heart attack in his sleep.
On Thursday, Soliman’s wife was the last family member to speak to him.
He called her at 2am and told her “I’m trying to come back quickly, I want to see you all”, said his brother Eisa.
“He then told her he would rest and call her the next day.”
After Fajr prayers, Soliman retired to his bunk.
“Next morning, his colleagues did not want to wake him up at first because they felt he was tired from being on duty the whole day before.”
However, when they attempted to rouse him up later they discovered he was dead.
Soliman had two sons and three daughters. His eldest child is 22 and the youngest is five years old.
hdajani@thenational.ae
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More about Middle East geopolitics
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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