Yemen’s former president Ali Abdullah Saleh has said there is no dispute between him and the Shiite Houthi rebels, his allies in the fight against the internationally-recognised government.
"There is no crisis or differences whatsoever, but only in the imagination of those who want these decisions and who want to plant these doubts and divisions," Mr Saleh said in an interview with Yemen Today TV after reports emerged that he was being held under house arrest by the Houthis.
He said there was no truth to what “international media, linked to enemy countries, have reported or what is being said on social media in [Yemen]”.
There has been an increase in tensions between Mr Saleh and the Houthi rebels, with leaders on each side criticising the other in recent weeks. The rebels accused Mr Saleh of trying to pull his forces from the front lines of the war with the government, while the former president’s supporters have said the rebels are monopolising power.
The two factions are unlikely allies. During Mr Saleh’s presidency, he repeatedly went to war with the Houthis in their northern stronghold.
In Monday’s interview, Mr Saleh said there had been “fears or doubts” by the rebels that he was planning a coup against their joint government.
“We said in letters of assurance to the brother [rebel leader] Abdul Malik Al Houthi not to believe those who [want to plant] doubt and the plotters that there is an operation against Ansar Allah,” he said, using another name for the Houthis. “He answered me positively and said ‘there’s no problem at all’."
“There’s no problem whatsoever between us and Ansar Allah,” Mr Saleh added.
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Read more:
Yemen ‘will not give Iran a foothold’
Yemen ex-president Saleh demands arrest of aide’s killers
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Mr Saleh demanded last week the arrest of Houthi gunmen suspected of killing one of his top aides, Col Khaled Al Radi. Following Col Al Radi's death on August 26, fighting broke out between the rebels and Saleh loyalists. Two Houthi fighters were killed in the clashes.
The two sides agreed to ease tensions a few days later. But although the clashes have now stopped, fighters from both factions remain deployed in backstreets and in some buildings in the capital, Sanaa.
The Houthis and Saleh loyalist continue to govern the capital and other areas in the north and west of the country.
A Saudi-led coalition, which includes the UAE, intervened in the war in Yemen in 2015 in support of the internationally-recognised government of president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi to restore his power in Sanaa after the Houthis seized the capital and entered into an alliance with Mr Saleh and his supporters.
According to the UN, more than 8,400 people have been killed and more than 3 million forced to flee in Yemen's civil war, pushing Yemen to the brink of famine.
The World Health Organisation and Yemen's health ministry said on Tuesday that a cholera outbreak in the country has infected 612,703 people and killed 2,048 since it began in April. Some districts are still reporting rises in new cases.
However, the overall spread of the epidemic has slowed in the past couple of months, with the daily number of new suspected cases cut to around 3,000 in recent days.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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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: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
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Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
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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
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Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
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The first Soroptimists club was founded in Oakland, California in 1921. The name comes from the Latin word soror which means sister, combined with optima, meaning the best.
The organisation said its name is best interpreted as ‘the best for women’.
Since then the group has grown exponentially around the world and is officially affiliated with the United Nations. The organisation also counts Queen Mathilde of Belgium among its ranks.
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Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
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Investment stage: Pre-seed
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Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5