Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani

Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani
Prime Minister of Qatar
In office 3 April 2007 – 26 June 2013
Monarch	Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani
Deputy	Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah
Preceded by	Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani
Succeeded by	Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani
Deputy Prime Minister of Qatar
In office 16 September 2003 – 3 April 2007
Prime Minister	Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani
Preceded by	Khalid bin Hamad Al Thani
Succeeded by	Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 11 January 1992 – 26 June 2013
Prime Minister	Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani
Preceded by	Mubarak Ali Al Khater
Succeeded by	Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah
Personal details
Born	(1959-08-30) 30 August 1959 Doha, Qatar
Political party	Independent
Spouse(s)	Jawaher Al Thani (1973–2005) Aljohara bint Fahad (2008–present)
Religion	Islam

Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber bin Muhammad Al Thani (born 30 August 1959) (Arabic: حمد بن جاسم بن جبر آل ثاني) is the former Prime Minister of Qatar, a position he held from 3 April 2007 to 26 June 2013, and former foreign minister, which he held from 11 January 1992 to 26 June 2013.

Early life

Hamad was born in Doha, Qatar, on 30 August 1959.^[1][2] He is the fifth son of Jassim bin Jabr Al Thani.^[2] Through his father, he is the grandson of Jabr bin Muhammed Al Thani. Jabr was a younger brother of Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani, the founding father of the modern Qatar and first Hakim (Ruler) of the state.

Career

Hamad and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin.

Between 1982 and 1989, Hamad was the director of the office of the minister of municipal affairs and agriculture. In July 1989, he was appointed minister of municipal affairs and agriculture and in May 1990, he was appointed deputy minister of electricity and water along with his post as minister of municipal affairs and agriculture, where he supervised several successful projects and developed the agriculture sector.^[3]

On 1 September 1992, Hamad was appointed as foreign minister of Qatar by the 8th Emir. He was retained in his post when the emir, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani came to power in a coup in 1995. Hamad played an important role in the overthrow of the 8th Emir. On 16 September 2003, Hamad was appointed first deputy prime minister while retaining his position of minister of foreign affairs. On 2 April 2007, he was appointed as prime minister, following the resignation of Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani; Hamad also continued to serve as foreign minister.^[4]

He was reported to have had strong connections with the US government. He serves on the International Advisory Council of the Brookings Institution and chairs the International Advisory Council of the Brookings Doha Center. He has stakes in many strong businesses such as Qatar Airways and the Foreign Investment Company, Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company, The Pearl and Harrods. He is a partner in Project Grande (Guernsey), the developer of One Hyde Park in London, United Kingdom.^[5]

Additionally, he held several other key positions including member of the supreme defense council, which was established in 1996; head of Qatar’s permanent committee for the support of al Quds, which was formed in 1998; member of the permanent constitution committee, formed in 1999; member of the ruling family council, which was established in 2000; and member of the supreme council for the investment of the reserves of the state, which was established in 2000.^[3]

On 26 June 2013, Hamad resigned from office and was replaced by Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani as prime minister^[6] and by Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah as foreign minister.^[7] On 3 July, Hamad was also relieved from the post of deputy head of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).^[8]

Peacemaker

Hamad has worked actively to settle political conflicts in both Africa and the Middle East over the last 20 years.

Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani delivers a speech at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East at the Dead Sea in Jordan, May 15, 2009

In 2010, he led the mediation efforts that resulted in the signing of a peace agreement between Djibouti and Eritrea to settle their border dispute and thereby paving the way for broader peace talks to end the six-year conflict in the region. According to the negotiated peace declaration, the two parties pledged to give peaceful means a “strategic priority to settle the conflict in Darfur”, and to take the required measures to create “an opportune environment to achieve a lasting settlement”, including the halting of “inconvenience to the displaced and ensuring the flow of relief aid”. The parties furthermore committed themselves to prisoners swap and the release of those who were detained due to the dispute.

In 2009, he assisted in the settlement agreement between Sudan and Chad. The civil war in Chad began in December 2005. On February 8, 2006 the Tripoli Agreement was signed, which temporarily stopped the fighting. However, hostilities resumed after two months, leading to several new agreement attempts and a final settlement between the two parties in 2009.

In 2009, Hamad participated in brokering a peace agreement to end the conflict in Darfur ("The Goodwill and Confidence Building Pact”) between the government of Sudan and Justice and Equality Movement. The pact also opened up to the rest of factions in Darfur.

He participated in mediation of ceasefire in Yemen between the Government of Yemen and the Houthi Movement in 2007. In 2010, the two parties agreed to activate the agreement after confrontations threatening the ceasefire. The mediation ended a six-year war between the two sides.

In 2007, Hamad helped organize the Lebanese national dialogue and the peace agreement between various Lebanese political groups to end the worst internal fighting in Lebanon since the civil war of 1975-1990. In an attempt to resolve a broader political showdown that had paralyzed the country for 18 months, Hamad summoned the Lebanese government and Hezbollah-led opposition to Qatar for talks. He declared an agreement sponsored by the Arab League to deal with the Lebanese crisis. In the agreement the parties pledged, “to refrain from returning to the use of weapons or violence to realize political gains." The Lebanese government furthermore committed itself to introduce a new electoral law designed to provide better representation in the country's sectarian system of power sharing.

Hamad was instrumental in creating the peace settlement between Sudan and Eritrea in 1998. The un-demarcated border with Sudan had posed a problem for Eritrean external relations for most of the nation's existence. He negotiated a peace settlement between Sudan and Eritrea. After the agreement was signed, relations somewhat normalized.

In 1996, he worked to settle a brief war between Eritrea and Yemen over the Hanish Islands. As part of the agreement to cease hostilities the two nations agreed, through the negotiating effort of Hamad, to refer the issue to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague in 1998. Yemen was granted full ownership of the larger islands while Eritrea was awarded the peripheral islands to the southwest of the larger islands. Since then relations between the two governments have remained relatively normal.

Hamad facilitated the agreement that led to a unity constitution in Yemen in May 1990, ratified by the populace in May 1991. It affirmed Yemen's commitment to free elections, a multiparty political system, the right to own private property, equality under the law, and respect of basic human rights. Parliamentary elections were held on 27 April 1993.

Hamad also has been involved in ongoing efforts between Fatah and Hamas to achieve Palestinian reconciliation to activate the peace process with Israel.

Of other humanitarian initiatives, he has facilitated the release of prisoners, including the five Lebanese prisoners in Eritrea. He supported the effort to release Mr. Nawaz Sharif, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan from jail, and was instrumental in freeing the Bulgarian nurses in Libya from prison. He has opened Qatar to political refugees in the Muslim and Arab worlds. During the Bosnian conflict of the 1990s, he secured large quantities of food, medicine and other items to the Bosnian population.

In November 2010 he launched the Humanitarian Appeal 2011 in Doha, together with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The initiative is set to help improve the living conditions for millions of people affected by humanitarian crises around the world.

BAE Systems Controversy

Following courting by Michael Portillo Qatar entered into an arms deal worth £500 million with BAE Systems^[9] £7 million was transferred into two trusts in Jersey of which Hamad was named as a beneficiary. In an attempt to prevent Money Laundering the funds were frozen from 16 July 2000 by the Jersey Financial Services Commission, who then began a court case and investigation.^[10] Hamad paid the Jersey authorities £6 million as a "voluntary reparation" as "the structures put in place by his advisers may have contributed to the cost and complexity of the inquiry.", the case was then dropped by the Jersey authorities.^[11]

Titles, styles and honours

Titles and styles

• Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani (1959–1989)
• His Excellency Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani (1989–2007, 2013-present)
• His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, Prime Minister of Qatar (2007 to 2013)

Honours

• Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from the Lebanese American University (28 April 2010, Lebanon)^[12]

Personal life

From 1982 to 1996 Hamad was married to Jawaher bint Fahad Al Thani.^[2] Then he married Noor Al Subaie, the daughter of the former minister of education, in 1996.^[2] He has 15 children.^[2]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani.

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Prime Ministers of Qatar Khalifa bin Hamad Hamad bin Khalifa Abdullah bin Khalifa Hamad bin Jassim Abdullah bin Nasser