DAMASCUS // The Red Cross and Red Crescent have been given permission "in principle" to deliver emergency medical treatment and humanitarian supplies to wounded residents in parts of Syria ravaged by violence, including Homs and Banias.
Marianne Gasser, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross-Red Crescent (ICRC) delegation in Damascus, said the Syrian authorities had agreed to allow the ICRC and its sister agencies to launch nationwide emergency relief efforts.
"We have been given authorisation in principle from a very high level by the Syrian authorities and we hope to begin these humanitarian missions as soon as possible," she said.
"It is extremely important that emergency help, including medical expertise and supplies, reaches people in need, and time is of the essence. With the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (Sarc) and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies we want to make repeat missions to Deraa and also go to Homs, Banias and other affected areas as soon as arrangements can be made for that to happen."
International organisations operating in Syria need permits from the security services and other arms of government to move around the country. Even with backing from high-level officials such clearances can be all but impossible to obtain.
A United Nations assessment team had been expected to go to Deraa on Sunday or Monday but it has been delayed because access permits from the Syrian authorities have not been given, the UN spokesman Farhan Haq said.
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, asked the Syrian president Bashar al Assad on Friday to authorise a human-rights mission to the country, a request he had expressed a "willingness to consider".
"The humanitarian assessment mission has not been able to get into Deraa," Mr Haq said. "We're trying to clarify why it hasn't had access, and we're also trying to get access to other areas of Syria."
Sarc has been working on the ground throughout the uprising, including in Deraa, but Ms Gasser said that, in the face of enormous odds, volunteers had been able to provide only relatively small-scale assistance, typically first aid and occasional evacuations of wounded.
This week army operations have intensified in Homs, Syria’s third-largest city, and in the Mediterranean port of Banias, as the Syrian authorities use tank-backed infantry, mass arrests and a block on mobile-phone and internet communications to break an anti-government uprising.
A powerful military force had previously been deployed to Deraa, 100km south of Damascus. The city has been at the forefront of protests calling for freedom and sweeping changes to Syria’s decades-old autocratic system of government.
Mr Ban discussed political turbulence in the Middle East with the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, yesterday. The UN chief said he was “very concerned over reports about Syria mobilising its military against protesters”, a spokesman said. The US has accused Iran of assisting Syria, its main regional ally, in repressing dissidents.
On Thursday afternoon a joint Red Cross-Red Crescent team visited Deraa, the first official mission in Syria since the uprising began eight weeks ago. It came as the military said it was winding down operations in the city, although residents say tanks and troops remain heavily deployed, and a curfew in place.
Reports from inside Deraa say parts of the city have been devastated by shelling and heavy-weapons fire, house raids by soldiers and cuts to water, fuel and electricity supplies.
A communications and media blackout in the area means details on casualties remain sketchy, but human-rights organisations say between 80 and 200 people have been killed in Deraa since the military assault started on March 25.
Civil-rights campaigners say Deraa residents were unable to leave their homes to bury their dead during the siege, with reports that dozens of corpses were instead stored in a freezer lorry.
The Syrian authorities refute those claims, saying their forces have not killed civilians and that, on the contrary, soldiers have died fighting foreign-backed Islamist militants in Deraa.
"There are real humanitarian needs there but, from what I saw, it is not currently a humanitarian crisis," Ms Gasser said. "People need baby milk, surgical supplies to treat the wounded, medicine for chronic diseases, as well as some additional food and for water supplies to be restored."
Ms Gasser said plans were being discussed to send a mobile health clinic to Deraa and the surrounding villages, which would enable those needing medical aid to get help outside of the city’s hospital. Thousands of people suspected of involvement in anti-government protests have been arrested nationwide and remain jailed, according to human-rights groups. No international organisations are allowed access to Syrian detention centres.
The UN’s aid chief, Valerie Amos, warned yesterday that Syrian officials are not answering calls in order to allow relief teams into Deraa, Latakia, Jablah, Banias, Douma and other cities hit by a wave of political violence.
"Despite repeated requests to the Syrian authorities for access … the proposed mission to Deraa on Sunday, May 8, has not gone ahead," said Ms Amos, the UN undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs. "While we have no confirmation of the numbers of those detained, injured or killed, we remain concerned about alleged human-rights violations in Syria."
Human-rights organisations estimate that more than 550 civilians and approximately 100 members of the Syrian security services have been killed since March 18, when the first protest took place in Deraa.
The Syrian government said the real number of civilian dead is closer to 70, and blames armed gangs for the deaths.Syria’s use of force against protesters has brought international condemnation, including sanctions from the EU and US against leading regime figures, although not Mr al Assad.
At the United Nations, an intense behind-the-scenes campaign has been waged to prevent Syria from being elected to the Geneva-based Human Rights Council. Kuwait is now going to replace Syria as a candidate for a seat on the UN’s top human-rights body.
psands@thenational.ae
* James Reinl contributed to this report from the United Nations
Ten10 Cricket League
Venue and schedule Sharjah Cricket Stadium, December 14 to 17
Teams
Maratha Arabians Leading player: Virender Sehwag; Top picks: Mohammed Amir, Imad Wasim; UAE players: Shaiman Anwar, Zahoor Khan
Bengal Lions Leading player: Sarfraz Ahmed; Top picks: Sunil Narine, Mustafizur Rahman; UAE players: Mohammed Naveed, Rameez Shahzad
Kerala Kings Leading player: Eoin Morgan; Top picks: Kieron Pollard, Sohail Tanvir; UAE players: Rohan Mustafa, Imran Haider
Pakhtoons Leading player: Shahid Afridi; Top picks: Fakhar Zaman, Tamim Iqbal; UAE players: Amjad Javed, Saqlain Haider
Punjabi Legends Leading player: Shoaib Malik; Top picks: Hasan Ali, Chris Jordan; UAE players: Ghulam Shabber, Shareef Asadullah
Team Sri Lanka Cricket Will be made up of Colombo players who won island’s domestic limited-overs competition
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
The specs: 2019 BMW X4
Price, base / as tested: Dh276,675 / Dh346,800
Engine: 3.0-litre turbocharged in-line six-cylinder
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 354hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm @ 1,550rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 9.0L / 100km
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
The biog
Simon Nadim has completed 7,000 dives.
The hardest dive in the UAE is the German U-boat 110m down off the Fujairah coast.
As a child, he loved the documentaries of Jacques Cousteau
He also led a team that discovered the long-lost portion of the Ines oil tanker.
If you are interested in diving, he runs the XR Hub Dive Centre in Fujairah
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 profile
Name: Infinite8
Based: Dubai
Launch year: 2017
Number of employees: 90
Sector: Online gaming industry
Funding: $1.2m from a UAE angel investor
Panipat
Director Ashutosh Gowariker
Produced Ashutosh Gowariker, Rohit Shelatkar, Reliance Entertainment
Cast Arjun Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Kriti Sanon, Mohnish Behl, Padmini Kolhapure, Zeenat Aman
Rating 3 /5 stars
THE LIGHT
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger
Rating: 3/5
Bio
Born in Dibba, Sharjah in 1972.
He is the eldest among 11 brothers and sisters.
He was educated in Sharjah schools and is a graduate of UAE University in Al Ain.
He has written poetry for 30 years and has had work published in local newspapers.
He likes all kinds of adventure movies that relate to his work.
His dream is a safe and preserved environment for all humankind.
His favourite book is The Quran, and 'Maze of Innovation and Creativity', written by his brother.
Mental%20health%20support%20in%20the%20UAE
%3Cp%3E%E2%97%8F%20Estijaba%20helpline%3A%208001717%3Cbr%3E%E2%97%8F%20UAE%20Ministry%20of%20Health%20and%20Prevention%20hotline%3A%20045192519%3Cbr%3E%E2%97%8F%20UAE%20Mental%20health%20support%20line%3A%20800%204673%20(Hope)%3Cbr%3EMore%20information%20at%20hope.hw.gov.ae%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
In Search of Mary Shelley: The Girl Who Wrote Frankenstein
By Fiona Sampson
Profile
The Pope's itinerary
Sunday, February 3, 2019 - Rome to Abu Dhabi
1pm: departure by plane from Rome / Fiumicino to Abu Dhabi
10pm: arrival at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
Monday, February 4
12pm: welcome ceremony at the main entrance of the Presidential Palace
12.20pm: visit Abu Dhabi Crown Prince at Presidential Palace
5pm: private meeting with Muslim Council of Elders at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
6.10pm: Inter-religious in the Founder's Memorial
Tuesday, February 5 - Abu Dhabi to Rome
9.15am: private visit to undisclosed cathedral
10.30am: public mass at Zayed Sports City – with a homily by Pope Francis
12.40pm: farewell at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
1pm: departure by plane to Rome
5pm: arrival at the Rome / Ciampino International Airport
Star%20Wars%3A%20Episode%20I%20%E2%80%93%20The%20Phantom%20Menace
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDeveloper%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Big%20Ape%20Productions%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20LucasArts%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EConsoles%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20PC%2C%20PlayStation%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar