Note: To read about more MEMRI reports on Project Raven, click here
Introduction
In January 2019, Reuters uncovered information about Project Raven, a wide-ranging cyber offensive operation carried out by former NSA agents on behalf of the UAE.[1] They gathered huge amounts of documents concerning several targets, including activists, journalists, and foreign government entities in a few countries, such as South Africa, Turkey, France, Yemen, Iran, Qatar, Lebanon, and Israel. The leaked documents uncovered the extent of the Qatari system of payments to politicians and influential public figures from different countries. Among the many figures was also former South African president Thabo Mbeki.
It is worth noting that Mbeki was elected president of South Africa on June 14, 1999, inaugurated as president on June 16, taking over from Nelson Mandela, and resigned on September 24, 2008. As reported by international media, Mbeki agreed to step down as "South Africa's president after the country's ruling party [the African National Congress (ANC)] formally requested his resignation over allegations he misused his power"[2] in the corruption case against party leader Jacob Zuma, who was president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018, and ANC President from December 18, 2007 to December 18, 2017.[3]
From 2009-2020, Mbeki instead played a role mediating between Sudan's government and Darfur rebel groups, as chief mediator of the African Union for Sudan.[4] In that period, relations between Qatar, which supported former ousted President Omar Al-Bashir, known to be an Islamist ally of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Mbeki were strengthened. In fact, as renowned media outlet Sudanese online reported in 2015: "When Thabo Mbeki was appointed [by the African Union] to investigate human rights violations in Darfur, he was thought to be the one to help change Sudan. Yet, Sudan is still at war with its own people, and Thabo Mbeki has not done anything to approach the issues that Sudan faces. Instead, he has become a lobby for [former president] Omar Al-Bashir and the [then] Sudanese government."[5]
Below are two documents disclosing the close relations between Mbeki and the Qatar government in those years.
The first document presented below is a leaked document in Arabic (translated into English by MEMRI), dated November 28, 2012, in which then Qatari Ambassador Salim Abdullah Al-Jaber stated that an "Emir's grant" has been "delivered as a transfer of $2 million" to former South African president Thabo Mbeki. The Qatari Ambassador's letter was addressed to Dr. Khalid Bin Muhammad Al-Attiya, who was then Qatar's State Minister for Foreign Affairs.
The second document presented below is a leaked letter written and signed by Mbeki, which was addressed to Dr. Khalid Bin Muhammad Al-Attiya. The letter is dated October 22, 2012, just a month before the Qatari Ambassador's confirmation of the "transfer of $2 million" to Mbeki. In fact, in the leaked letter, Mbeki told the former Qatari State Minister for Foreign Affairs: "As your Excellency will recall, the Emir directed that Your Excellency should discuss with me the matter of the implementation of the specific commitment he made in 2010 to assist the Thabo Mbeki Foundation."
This exchange confirms the veracity of the Raven Project leaks:
Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and Thabo Mbeki leave parliament in Cape Town in 2002 (Source: Twitter)
In 2009, Doha, Chad and Sudan signed a reconciliation agreement in Doha. Standing behind the two Chadi and Sudanese representatives: Burundi's former president Pierre Buyoya, Mbeki and then Qatari Premier Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani. (Source: Al-Jazeera)
On March 2, 2020, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani met at the Amiri Diwan with the visiting former South Africa president and Chairperson of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel Thabo Mbeki and his accompanying delegation. (source: Gulf-times.com)[6]
Qatari Ambassador Tariq Al-Ansari visited Former President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, March 24, 2022 (Source: Pretoria.embassy.qa)[7]
Qatari Ambassador Al-Ansari met with CEO of the Thabo Mbeki Foundation on March 20, 2022. (Source: Pretoria.embassy.qa)[8]
Project Raven
A document in Arabic that was leaked as part of Project Raven shows close relations between Mbeki and Qatar. The leaked Qatari document reportedly reveals that in 2012, during his tenure as Qatari Ambassador to South Africa,[9] Salim Abdullah Al-Jaber stated that the "Emir's grant" has been "delivered as a transfer of $2 million" to former South African president Thabo Mbeki.
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Qatari Embassy Pretoria
"No. s/q/b/5/164 November 28, 2012
"Secret
"His Excellency Dr. Khalid Bin Muhammad Al-Attiya
"State Minister for Foreign Affairs
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"Doha
"Re: Payment of the Emir's grant to Mr. Thabo Mbeki
"Warm greetings,
"I am pleased to inform your Excellency that the Emir's grant, which was transferred to the Embassy account on November 19, 2012, has been delivered as a transfer of 2,000,000 (two million) U.S. dollars to Mr. Thabo Mbeki, head of the Thabo Mbeki Foundation and former president of South Africa. Please find attached an original reference signed by him and a photo of the bank transfer to the Embassy account.
"For your information,
"Respectfully yours,
"Salim Abdullah Al-Jaber
"Ambassador"
Letter From Mbeki To Qatar
Renowned expert Eric Reeves,[10] who has published extensively both in the U.S. and internationally about Sudan, posted on his website Sudanreeves.org, a leaked letter written and signed by Mbeki, which was addressed to Dr. Khalid Bin Muhammad Al-Attiya. The letter is dated October 22, 2012, just a month before the Qatari Ambassador's confirmation of the "transfer of $2 million" to Mbeki, which was dated November 28, 2012. In fact, in the leaked letter, Mbeki told the former Qatari State Minister for Foreign Affairs: "As your Excellency will recall, the Emir directed that Your Excellency should discuss with me the matter of the implementation of the specific commitment he made in 2010 to assist the Thabo Mbeki Foundation."[11] As Reeves explained, in the letter, "Mbeki begs for money from the Qataris, trading on his failed work in Sudan."
Below is the leaked letter:
*Anna Mahjar-Barducci is a MEMRI Senior Research Fellow
[1] See MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis Series No. 1734, "
[2] Theguardian.com/world/2008/sep/20/southafrica1, September 20, 2008.
[3] Npr.org/2008/09/21/94868831/south-africas-president-mbeki-resigns, September 21, 2008.
[4] Sudanwarmonitor.com/p/mbeki-african-and-international-response, November 23, 2023.
[5] Sudaneseonline.com/cgi-bin/esdb/2bb.cgi?seq=print&board=15&msg=1439488420&rn=, August 13, 2015.
[6] Gulf-times.com/story/657415/amir-meets-african-union-official, March 2, 2020.
[7] Pretoria.embassy.qa/en/media/news/detail/1443/12/06/h.-e.-ambassador-tariq-al-ansari-visited-h.e-former-president-of-south-africa-honorable-thabo-mbeki, March 24, 2022.
[8] Pretoria.embassy.qa/en/media/news/detail/1443/12/06/his-excellency-ambassador-al-ansari-met-with-ceo-of-the-thabo-mbeki-foundation, March 22, 2022.
[9] Salim Abdullah Al-Jaber served as Qatari ambassador in Pretoria from 2012 to 2016. Pretoria.embassy.qa/en/the-embassy/former-ambassadors
[10] American academic Eric Reeves is professor emeritus of English language and literature at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Reeves has published on many topics of a theoretical and philosophical nature. Reeves has also established himself as an expert on Sudan. His research has covered all regions of both Sudan and the now independent South Sudan and includes recent political history and the various humanitarian crises that plague both Sudan and South Sudan. He has published widely on Sudan, both nationally and internationally, for more than two decades, and has frequently testified before the Congress and provided briefings to Congressional staffers. He has also served as a consultant to a number of human rights and humanitarian organizations operating in Sudan. He is a former senior fellow at Harvard University's François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, and he is the Founder and co-Chair of the "Project Responding to Sexual Violence in Darfur." He authored the book "A Long Day's Dying: Critical Moments in the Darfur Genocide," (Toronto: The Key Publishing House, 2007. 360 pp.).
[11] Sudanreeves.org/2015/05/27/thabo-mbeki-begs-for-money-from-the-qataris/, May 27, 2015.
