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The charges were explosive: for five years, the Chinese government had been spying on communications to the African Union. Every night, continuous data from computers installed at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) to unknown places controlled by China, told anonymous reporters at the AU reporters from the Financial Times and the French newspaper Le Monde.
This violation represented "what appears to be one of the oldest confidential government data thefts of which we are aware," wrote Danielle Cave, Senior Analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
Huawei, the Chinese technology giant closely linked to the Communist Party that provided the hardware, configured the servers and trained the staff of the African Union, was at the center of the controversy.
Now, AU leaders have decided to consolidate their ties with the Chinese technology company at a time when international criticism is intensifying.
A flawless stay"Back doors"
When Chinese espionage charges were launched in early 2018, Moussa Faki, chairman of the AU Commission, and Hailemariam Desalegn, former prime minister of Ethiopia, categorically denied the accusations, as did those responsible. Chinese.
Huawei called the claims "completely unfounded" and said that they "vehemently rejected" any allegation of impropriety.
The exact information that has been compromised and the reasons why the Chinese government finds it useful remain unclear.
But the accusations are part of a broader set of criticisms against Huawei.
In 2012, the United States House Intelligence Committee of the United States called Huawei a threat to national security and warned that he had stolen intellectual property and could spy on Americans through "back doors" that allow unauthorized access to sensitive data.
Pressure on the company intensified last month, when the US Department of Commerce placed Huawei on its list of "entities," restricting exchanges with its US partners, after President Donald Trump issued a decree banning actually to the company to operate in the United States.
New business
As criticism mounted worldwide, Huawei reaffirmed last week by signing an agreement with the African Union to expand partnerships around a range of technologies from broadband computing to cloud computing. going through 5G and artificial intelligence.
Thomas Kwesi Quartey, Vice President of the African Union Commission, and Philippe Wang, Vice President of Huawei for North Africa, signed the Memorandum of Understanding last week at the African Union Headquarters – a goodwill gift from China to Africa – in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia).
The agreement is a show of solidarity at a crucial moment in Huawei's history – and a potential cleavage between Africa and the United States at a time of increasing opposition among the world's largest economies.
It also extends Huawei's anchor in a market with considerable growth potential in the coming years: barely 36% of Africans had reliable Internet access starting in March.
A flawless stayOld links
Huawei entered Africa for the first time in the late 1990s, helping to build cellular networks in dozens of countries. Experts believe that Huawei has built the majority of African cellular infrastructure, affecting many sectors, from education and banks to health and public authorities.
The communication networks that Huawei has built, usually with loans funded by the Chinese government, are not as visible as gigantic infrastructure projects such as bridges and railroads. But their impact is at least as profound.
"On the technological front, China is incomparable in Africa," wrote Antoaneta Roussi, an East Africa-based journalist in Nature magazine. "The country's telecommunications giant, Huawei, has built half of the 4G networks on the continent and most 2G and 3G networks."
The company also took the lead in developing the continent's 5G capabilities, starting with Johannesburg, South Africa, where Huawei helped launch a next-generation network in February. With data transfer speeds at least 100 times faster than 4G, 5G technology dramatically improves existing cellular systems.
Huawei may not offer superior technology, but it is willing to engage with African countries when Western companies do not. W. Gyude Moore, a guest at the Center for Global Development and former minister of public works in Liberia, recently wrote.
And they did it at very low prices. The Chinese government has subsidized IT infrastructure across Africa, making it more affordable and more available.
Over the years, the links between Africa and Huawei have only grown stronger.
In 2012, Huawei developed a desktop "cloud" project for the African Union to help the organization communicate and conduct its business more effectively (()).
In 2015, AU leaders and Huawei executives signed a memorandum of understanding to deepen and broaden their partnership.
The renewal of this year is the most ambitious agreement to date.
Winds contrary
But competitive and political landscapes have become more complex.
US technology giants Google and Microsoft have launched new research and development initiatives in Africa to recruit local talent and develop advanced technologies.
At the same time, the intensification of tensions between China and the United States could lead African countries to choose those with whom they associate, even if the interest in African investments increases and more strategic partnerships exist.
And security concerns should not falter, with growing concern that emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning could become tools of repression in the hands of authoritarian regimes. , concerns raised by groups such as Human Rights Watch and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
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