Members of the UN Security Council urged South Sudanese authorities on Monday to remove all constraints to humanitarian access and to address the continuing theft of resources.
“Violence has caused significant loss of life, displaced thousands of civilians and led to large-scale abductions of women and children,” said James Kariuki, the UK's deputy representative to the UN.
“It is imperative that safe, unimpeded help can reach the most vulnerable.”
Mr Kariuki echoed the messages delivered by Pope Francis, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Moderator of the Church of Scotland Iain Greenshields during their visit to the sub-Saharan African country last month.
Pope Francis, who was visiting the predominantly Christian country of 11 million people, pleaded with leaders to focus on ending conflicts, enacting the peace agreement and shunning the “blind fury of violence”.
The UN estimates that 7.8 million people — including 1.4 million children under the age of five — will face crisis levels of acute food insecurity during the next four months.
This year, 9.4 million people — 76 per cent of the country's population, including 350,000 refugees — will need humanitarian assistance, a 5 per cent increase from last year, Tareq Talahma, acting director of Operations and Advocacy at the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said on Monday.
“Climate change has farther driven humanitarian needs. Last year, the country experienced a fourth consecutive year of intense flooding,” said Mr Kariuki.
“Over a million people were affected as water swept away homes and livestock, flooded farmlands and submerged water resources.”
Robert Wood, the US acting deputy ambassador to the UN, said on Monday that the transitional government of South Sudan — which reported $1.6 billion in oil revenue last year — continues “to fail to allocate those resources to address the humanitarian needs of its population”.
Mr Wood “urgently” called on South Sudanese officials to “dedicate more of oil revenue” to allow for safe access and delivery of humanitarian assistance.
South Sudan has some of the largest crude oil reserves in sub-Saharan Africa. A UN report published in 2021 showed that the country's leaders had diverted “staggering amounts of money and other wealth” from the public purse.
Twelve years after independence, conflict still torments the oil-rich but deeply impoverished country half a decade after its leaders declared an end to the civil war that killed 400,000 people.
President Salva Kiir, an ex-rebel who has led South Sudan since 2011, formed a transitional government in 2020 and committed to uniting the armed forces into a single army to safeguard the country — all while being locked in a vicious feud with his archrival and First Vice President Riek Machar.
His efforts have proven futile and local conflicts continue to rage.
Speaking to the UN Security Council on Monday, the UN secretary general's special representative to Sudan, Nicholas Hayssom, noted that 2023 is a “make-or-break” year and a “test for all parties” for the peace agreement.
The UN mission to Sudan - one of the most expensive in the world with an annual budget of $1.2 billion - has been asked by the government to "assist the South Sudanese-owned and administered elections," Mr Haysom said.
“The transitional government confirmed its commitment to implement the peace agreement in accordance with the timelines contained in the agreed road map,” he said.
Mr Hayssom outlined four key hurdles that the parties must clear to successfully position South Sudan to complete the final leg of the transitional phase: drafting a new constitution; preparations for peaceful, inclusive and credible elections in 2024; the expansion of civic and political space; and the consolidation and deployment of the Necessary Unified Forces.
Test series fixtures
(All matches start at 2pm UAE)
1st Test Lord's, London from Thursday to Monday
2nd Test Nottingham from July 14-18
3rd Test The Oval, London from July 27-31
4th Test Manchester from August 4-8
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.”
What She Ate: Six Remarkable Women & the Food That Tells Their Stories
Laura Shapiro
Fourth Estate
Schedule:
Friday, January 12: Six fourball matches
Saturday, January 13: Six foursome (alternate shot) matches
Sunday, January 14: 12 singles
The specs: 2018 Honda City
Price, base: From Dh57,000
Engine: 1.5L, in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 118hp @ 6,600rpm
Torque: 146Nm @ 4,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 5.8L / 100km
