British military stockpiling food, fuel and ammunition ahead of Brexit

The prospect of Brexit without a deal has pushed the UK military into a buying spree to fill up army warehouses.

The government is stockpiling food, fuel, spare parts and ammunition at UK military bases in Gibraltar, Cyprus, the Falklands as well as at UK sites to avoid supply disruptions in the event of the country crashing out of the European Union without an agreement, Sky News reported. Military chiefs have spent at least £23 million on "forward-purchased" goods, it said.

Operation Yellowhammer is aimed at keeping sailors, soldiers and pilots fed and equipped should the lack of a deal with the EU after March 29 lead to shortages of key items, the channel reported.

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“The Ministry of Defence routinely undertakes contingency planning, and it is absolutely right that the government ensures we are prepared and resourced for a range of scenarios when we leave the EU. We are working closely with industry partners, key suppliers and across government to ensure that essential defence tasks would not be affected by a no-deal Brexit,” a spokesperson said on Saturday by email.

“As part of wider contingency planning, we have forward-purchased a limited range of general commodities to ensure we can continue to function in the event of any supply chain disruption.”

Meanwhile, protesters shut down a border road between Ireland and Northern Ireland on Saturday, erecting a concrete wall with mock-military checkpoints to illustrate the violent unrest a hard Brexit could bring to the fragile region.

Locals hauled towering concrete barriers into place and installed a customs hut defended by a watchtower manned by men dressed as armed British troops – evoking haunting memories of the three decades of bloodshed known as the Troubles.

“It’s actually to remind some of our younger generation exactly the way things were 25 years ago,” said John McNamee, an activist with group Border Communities against Brexit.

“This is what it was about and we certainly don’t want it back,” he said.

During the Troubles the area was militarised as republican and unionist paramilitaries and the British military vied for control.

More than 3,600 were killed before the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 ended the conflict and effectively dissolved the border between the British province of Northern Ireland and the Republic.

After a rally calling on Westminster to avoid the return of a hard border along the 500-kilometre boundary, locals smashed down the mock wall using sledgehammers in a jubilant atmosphere.

They also took heavy machinery to the watchtowers as the British troops intervened in a dramatic act of “street theatre”, designed to illustrate tensions that could return to the region following the hard-won peace.

“We’re 60 days out from the reality of Brexit with or without a deal,” said Border Communities Against Brexit organiser Tom Murray.

“Without a deal there may be the imposition of a border. This is a visual representation of the potential of the worst- case scenario,” he said.

The British parliament is in deadlock, unable to pass a withdrawal deal that would rule out the need for border checks.

If Britain quits the EU without an accord on 29 March, there are concerns infrastructure will be needed to enforce customs and regulations at the new edge of the trading bloc.

"It would be fairly tough on our daily life," said protester Aaron Crilly – whose family is split between the two territories.

On Friday, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar told Bloomberg TV that the border may “involve people in uniform” as well as “cameras, physical infrastructure, possibly a police presence, or an army presence to back it up”.

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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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Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets