Sudan starts independence vote



Thousands of jubilant south Sudanese queued through the night to be among the first the vote on Sunday in the region's landmark independence referendum.

At polling stations across the regional capital Juba, hundreds of voters were already waiting well before dawn to seize their opportunity to have their say on whether the impoverished south should break way from rule by Khartoum after five decades of devastating conflict.

"We are standing in the queue to step forward to independence," said David Akol, as he waited with hundreds of others to vote at the memorial to veteran rebel leader John Garang, who died shortly after signing the 2005 peace deal with the Khartoum government that provided for Sunday's vote.

"The day that we have waited for for so long has finally arrived."

Yar Mayon, who grew up in refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, said: "I came here in the early morning because I wanted to show just how much I wanted to vote.

"It was so important to me I could not sleep," she said, as she prepared to cast her ballot in favour of partitioning Africa's largest nation and creating the world's 193rd UN member state.

As the sun rose shortly after 7:00 am (0400 GMT), Wilson Santino said: "This is a new dawn because we vote for our freedom.

"We have been fighting for too many years but today this vote for separation is also for peace. Soon the sun will be shining over a free south Sudan."

Polls were to open at 8:00 am (0500 GMT) and close at 5:00 pm (1400 GMT) for the first of seven days of voting.

Euphoria had gripped Juba on the eve of polling as people feted the looming end of a long and often difficult countdown.

Hollywood star George Clooney joined a host of current and former world statesmen including senior US Senator John Kerry, former president Jimmy Carter and ex-UN chief Kofi Annan in the city for south Sudan's big day.

But the celebrations were overshadowed by deadly clashes with armed tribesmen and renegade militiamen in two remote oil-producing districts on the north-south border that were bitterly contested in the 1983-2005 civil war.

South Sudanese president Salva Kiir told his people in an eve of polling day message that there was no alternative to peaceful coexistence with the north.

"Fellow compatriots, we are left only with a few hours to make the most vital and extremely important decision of our lifetime," he said.

"The referendum is not the end of the journey but rather the beginning of a new one," he added, alluding to the six-month transitional period to recognition as an independent state stipulated by the 2005 peace agreement.

US envoys had led an intensive international diplomatic effort right up to the last minute to ensure that the referendum went ahead as scheduled under the deal. Washington's Sudan envoy Scott Gration alone made 24 trips to the region.

In an opinion article published by the New York Times on Saturday, President Barack Obama said voters must be allowed to make their choice free from intimidation and coercion.

"Now, the world is watching, united in its determination to make sure that all parties in Sudan live up to their obligations," Obama wrote.

"All sides should refrain from inflammatory rhetoric or provocative actions that could raise tensions or prevent voters from expressing their will."

Obama said that if the Khartoum government lived up to its obligations under the 2005 peace deal and respected the outcome of the vote, it could be removed from a US list of state sponsors of terrorism.

"Today, I am repeating my offer to Sudan's leaders - if you fulfil your obligations and choose peace, there is a path to normal relations with the United States," he wrote.

Aides say that Obama, grounded in a commitment to Africa, from where he traces part of his lineage, left administration officials in no doubt of the grave stakes posed by Sudan's potential split.

"'Let me be clear about what this means to me,'" one official quoted Obama as saying during a staff meeting earlier this year.

"'Two million people died the last time there was a conflict between north and south. That cannot happen again.'"

The conflict between the Muslim, mainly Arab north, and the African, mainly Christian south, has blighted Sudan virtually since independence from Britain in 1956, fuelled by religion, ethnicity, ideology and resources, particularly oil.

President Omar al-Bashir, an army man who led the north's war effort against the south for a decade and a half before signing the 2005 peace deal, has said he will respect the outcome of the vote if it is "free and transparent."

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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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Other workplace saving schemes
  • The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
  • Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
  • National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
  • In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
  • Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.