At least two people were killed and 12 wounded when a bomb planted underneath a tuk-tuk in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square exploded late on Friday night.
It was the first such attack against anti-government protesters in the Iraqi capital, scores of whom have been killed by live ammunition and military-grade tear gas canisters fired by the security forces.
Witnesses said the explosion set fire to a neighbouring car in the square.
“It was a tuk-tuk and a car [that caught fire], but it was the tuk-tuk that exploded not the car. I was next to the car,” said Rami Jabbar, whose face was scorched by the explosion.
Protesters quickly surrounded the charred wreckage of the vehicles. The force of the explosion flung parts of the red tuk-tuk high up on to electricity cables metres away from the twisted body of the vehicle.
“It was horrific honestly, but despite that, we will stay. There’s nothing else we can do, it’s for the fate of the martyrs,” said Mr Jabbar.
Demonstrations in Baghdad and southern Iraq have been met with violence from security forces since they broke out at the beginning of October. More than 320 people have been killed and thousands have been injured. More recently, protesters have faced a campaign of arrests, threats and kidnappings.
While Tahrir Square has been the centre of the protests Baghdad, confrontations with security forces generally take place on the edges at Sinak bridge and Khilani Square. Those areas have become a moving frontline between protesters and security forces where the air is thick with tear gas and the sound of shots.
On Sunday, protesters seized back part of the Sinak bridge and occupied a tall building overlooking it along with the strategic Khilani Square.
Security forces kept control over part of the Sinak Bridge and erected new concrete barriers to block protesters from pushing into the Green Zone, which houses Parliament and many foreign embassies.
It comes as another activist involved in the protest movement was shot dead on Saturday.
In contrast, Tahrir Square has become a place of relative calm, a miniature tent city where protesters can rest, eat and tend to their wounds. Many stay there for days at a time. The bomb went off next to the garden at the centre of the square, shattering the illusion of safety.
“The goal of the explosion was to scare people, but we will stay here until we have freedom,” said Mr Jabbar.
Mohamed Fadhel, a civil activist at the scene of the blast, believed the target of the bombing was chosen deliberately. “The tuk-tuk is the symbol of the revolution,” he said, “So they want to destroy that image.”
The small three-wheeled vehicles, previously confined to Baghdad’s poorest neighborhoods, have become celebrated for the heroism of their drivers in darting to the frontlines of clashes to rescue the wounded.
At the scene of the explosion, protesters lit small candles on the twisted metal of the tuk-tuk and car in memory of those killed. Others got down on their hands and knees to gather what was left of the victims using lights from their phones, trying to preserve what they could for burial.
“This is from the participants in the protests,” said Adel, an older man in a medical coat who held the gathered remains in a plastic container. “They were young Iraqis carrying only the Iraqi flag and this is their end. We will stay. They can’t make us leave. The people are one, they cannot make us retreat.”
“We all have the right,” said Adel, “The parties have failed; they ruled us for 16 years and all they’ve brought us is corruption, destruction and death. So we must change this government. The will of the people is stronger than the government.”
Sitting amid the crowd and chaos after the blast was a young man with his head in his hands. “The tuk-tuk driver was my friend,” he murmured. “He was martyred. His name was Yassin.”
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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.”
