Photos reveal ISIL’s destruction to antiquities museum in Mosul

MOSUL // The antiquities museum in the Iraqi city of Mosul is in ruins, with exhibition halls housing piles of rubble and the basement filled with ankle-deep drifts of ash.

Associated Press reporters were granted rare access to the museum on Wednesday after Iraqi forces retook it from ISIL earlier this week.

They saw the jagged remains of what appeared to have been an ancient Assyrian bull statue and fragments from cuneiform tablets. The museum once housed Mesopotamian artefacts dating back thousands of years.

ISIL captured Mosul in 2014 and released a video the following year showing fighters smashing artefacts in the museum with sledgehammers and power tools. The extremists view ancient artefacts as idols.

Iraqi officials at the time said most of what the militants destroyed were copies, as much of the museum’s inventory had been moved to Baghdad for safekeeping.

Federal police Corporal Abbas Muhammad said he was one of the first to enter the building after it was retaken from ISIL.

“Daesh came to Iraq to destroy our heritage because they don’t have their own,” he said.

The territory overrun by ISIL in Syria and Iraq is home to some of the region’s most important historical sites and monuments.

Over the past two and half years, the militants have systematically destroyed ancient palaces, temples and churches. They have even demolished some mosques, saying they were used to venerate saints, which ISIL considers a form of polytheism.

The extremist group is also believed to have looted ancient artefacts to sell them on the black market to finance its operations.

A handful of history books remained in the main entryway of the museum beside a bag of placards from old exhibits.

They describe flint objects found in Nineveh dating back to about 4,000BC, copper oil lamps discovered in Ur dating back to 2,600BC and Sumerian statues dating back to 2,050BC.

“Mosul is the heart of Iraqi civilisation,” said federal police Major Muhammad Al Jabouri, a Mosul native from a nearby neighbourhood.

“When I heard how Daesh destroyed this place,” he said as his eyes filled with tears. “Death would have been a greater mercy for me.”

* Associated Press

Real estate tokenisation project

Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

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.”

While you're here

Con Coughlin: To survive, Nato must renew its sense of common purpose

Gavin Esler: Nato summit failed for making news more than it made deals

Simon Waldman: Nato continues to be Ankara’s best security guarantor

Key facilities

Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
Premier League-standard football pitch
400m Olympic running track
NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
600-seat auditorium
Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
Specialist robotics and science laboratories
AR and VR-enabled learning centres
Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets