Yemeni coast guards have retrieved the bodies of three African migrants, believed to be among dozens drowned off south Yemen, a Red Crescent official said today.
"Three bodies were found Tuesday morning in the coastal region of Zubab" in Yemen's southern province of Taez, said Abdul Wahab al-Gharbani, secretary general of the Red Crescent in Taez.
Mr Gharbani, who said he was "surprised" at the number of victims the ministry of interior announced yesterday, insisted that 46 people, mostly Ethiopians, were on board the boat which capsized near Bab al-Mandab strait that links the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Five migrants who survived have been giving accounts of the accident to security officials at Bab al-Mandab, he said.
Yemen's interior ministry said yesterday that "80 Africans, mostly Ethiopian, drowned after their two boats were capsized".
"The accident was caused by high winds and a tsunami which capsized the two boats taking them towards the coast," the statement said, quoting the coast guard in the southern port city of Aden.
But Gharbani said only one boat had overturned. "We have no information about a similar incident and we are now following up with the organisation's (Red Crescent) international committee to search for those missing," he said.
A Bab al-Mandab security official yesterday put the number of people missing at 35, confirming that only one boat overturned and that five passengers, whom he said are Ethiopians, had survived. Two Yemeni people smugglers also survived, he said.
The official, who would not be named, said the accident was caused by engine damage.
Each year tens of thousands of Ethiopians and Somalis make the perilous crossing to Yemen in the hope of escaping the economic deprivation, persecution and conflicts of their home countries.
Many die on board often overcrowded and rotten small boats, while others, already weakened by long journeys from the hinterland to the coast, die at the hands of ruthless smugglers.
The migrants generally slip by boat into south Yemen, itself one of the world's poorest countries, before heading towards the border with Saudi Arabia.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said last April that the exodus of Somalis across the Gulf of Aden had slowed dramatically since the start of 2010, despite recurring violence in Somalia.
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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.”