BAMAKO // Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi, whose war crime trial in The Hague opens on Monday, is a quiet Quranic scholar who became a ruthless enforcer for extremists when they occupied the fabled city of Timbuktu in Mali.
Born about 40 years ago in Agoune, 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Timbuktu, the curly-haired former teacher was steeped in Islamic learning from a young age.
He fast became a fervent proponent of the strictest interpretations of Islamic law, which had little popular support in Mali, but his chance came when jihadists descended on Timbuktu in April 2012.
Mahdi was soon recruited by the Islamist group Ansar Dine as “the most competent and prominent person in Timbuktu when it came to being knowledgeable in religious matters”, in the words of International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors.
Among a group of outsiders, Mahdi stood out for his local knowledge while also being a fluent Arabic speaker, and his scholarly background lent a veneer of credence to the Islamists’ call to destroy several Unesco-listed sites they considered idolatrous.
His former teachers recall a quiet, even introverted boy who impressed many with the much-prized feat of memorising the entire Quran Islam’s holy book.
“Among the 82 students in the madrasa (Islamic school), Ahmad had the most phenomenal memory, by a long way,” said El Hadj Mohamed Coulibaly, his teacher in the 1980s.“He had the whole Quran in his head. We couldn’t catch him out,” A brilliant pupil, he spent time in Libya and Saudi Arabia, then went on to a Quranic college and worked as an Islamic teacher elsewhere in Mali before returning to the Timbuktu area shortly before fanatics entered the city.
Waves of unrest had led to a military coup in March that year and an all-out rebellion in the country’s north, led by Tuareg groups who were soon sidelined by Al-Qaeda-linked Islamists, including the Ansar Dine group.
When the jihadists swaggered into town, Mahdi was working at an association for Muslim youths, providing them with religious advice, and was well known for his rigid principles and advocacy of Sharia law.
He already had connections in the jihadist world, rubbing shoulders with the man who would become spokesman for Ansar Dine in Timbuktu, Sanda Ould Bouamama, and through his marriage to the niece of Houka Houka Ag Alfousseyni, an Islamic judge.
Life in Timbuktu altered quickly to fit the vision Mahdi had always wanted for his nation: adulterers were stoned, thieves had their arms amputated, and smokers and drinkers were whipped.
In a city known also for its long musical tradition, singing and concerts were banned.
Mahdi became the head of the “Hisbah”, or morality police, which upheld the jihadists’ narrow interpretation of the Quran’s teachings.
As the head of this brigade, “he used the carrot and the stick”, said a senior religious figure in Timbuktu, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, personally whipping women he judged “impure”, but holding sympathetic meetings with smokers reconsidering their habit.
Mahdi was “a bit town sheriff” in his style, also presenting himself as the boss of all the city’s imams, a local official told AFP.
By late June in 2012, Mahdi had grown frustrated by the townspeople’s unwillingness to desist from their long-held practice of worshipping Timbuktu’s shrines of Muslim saints.
Using pickaxes, chisels and pickup lorries, his men destroyed 14 shrines and a section of the mosque, wiping out centuries of tradition that attracted pilgrims from across Africa and the Middle East.
“The prophet (Mohamed) said break apart these mausoleums because all people are equal and so in a cemetery no tomb must rise higher than another,” he told an AFP journalist, shortly before the destruction began.
Mahdi’s role was to “justify all decisions made in the name of sharia, the name of the Quran,” he added.
But Ansar Dine’s actions, led by Mahdi, shocked “humanity’s collective consciousness”, said prosecutor Fatou Bensouda at The Hague in March, leading to an unusual type of war crime charge.
His ICC trial is a collection of firsts: the first to be brought by the world’s only permanent war crimes court over the extremist violence in Mali, the first jihadist to face justice before the court, and the first time an ICC defendant has said he will plead guilty.
His lawyer Jean-Louis Gilissen defended him as “an intelligent, reasonable and educated man” who had sought to do good in response to a “divine message”.
But though the tombs have been rebuilt, the city once known as the “Pearl of the Desert” has yet to regain its shine, riven with insecurity and violence under the watch of Islamist and criminal gangs.
* Agence France-Presse
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
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SPECS
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
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Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
- Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
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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.”
Company%20profile
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Explainer: Tanween Design Programme
Non-profit arts studio Tashkeel launched this annual initiative with the intention of supporting budding designers in the UAE. This year, three talents were chosen from hundreds of applicants to be a part of the sixth creative development programme. These are architect Abdulla Al Mulla, interior designer Lana El Samman and graphic designer Yara Habib.
The trio have been guided by experts from the industry over the course of nine months, as they developed their own products that merge their unique styles with traditional elements of Emirati design. This includes laboratory sessions, experimental and collaborative practice, investigation of new business models and evaluation.
It is led by British contemporary design project specialist Helen Voce and mentor Kevin Badni, and offers participants access to experts from across the world, including the likes of UK designer Gareth Neal and multidisciplinary designer and entrepreneur, Sheikh Salem Al Qassimi.
The final pieces are being revealed in a worldwide limited-edition release on the first day of Downtown Designs at Dubai Design Week 2019. Tashkeel will be at stand E31 at the exhibition.
Lisa Ball-Lechgar, deputy director of Tashkeel, said: “The diversity and calibre of the applicants this year … is reflective of the dynamic change that the UAE art and design industry is witnessing, with young creators resolute in making their bold design ideas a reality.”
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Vidaamuyarchi
Director: Magizh Thirumeni
Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra
Rating: 4/5
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia