Did French newspaper fabricate claims that China spied on AU?

By: Collins Mwai

The African Union headquarters building whose construction was funded by the Chinese government, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. (Net)

Late last month, as African Heads of State and Government were meeting at the 30th African Union Summit in Ethiopia, a French publication reported that the Chinese government had been ‘eavesdropping’ on the Union’s proceedings through spy technology.

French daily Le Monde alleged that the Chinese had bugged the African Union headquarters, a plush $200m complex Beijing constructed for the AU in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
The paper claimed that China had been downloading data from servers in the building for about five years until January 2017.
However, when one looks deeper into the story, it raises a number of questions.
Le Monde’s article relied heavily on anonymous sources whose validity remains unclear. Given the gravity of the allegations and the parties involved, was it totally impossible to have a source or two on record?
Doubts surrounding the sources and the fact that there was not a single follow up story by the French newspaper or other Western media houses or even researchers point to possible concerns about the authenticity of the report.
The report came hot on the heels of French President Emmanuel Macron’s tour of several African countries, a sign that the European country is attempting to court stronger ties with African nations.
France’s influence in most parts of Africa has been diminishing and the French President’s recently derogatory comments about Africans, their civilization and poverty on the continent has only made matters worse.
There is no doubt that China continues to grow its socio-economic footprint across Africa.
Some experts have argued that the story is an example of an attempt to damage the China-Africa relationship as France is threatened by the growing China presence in Africa, especially in its former colonies across western and central Africa?
It has also since emerged that aspects of the Le Monde story were not factual, further bringing into question the objective of the story.
The report alleged that the AU data centre had been under the management of the Chinese until January of 2017 when the bugs were discovered.
However, the data centre and computer system were not built or installed by the Chinese.
The African Union in January 2016 issued a tender for the design and implementation of the data centre which was inaugurated in April the same year.
That also contradicts the allegations that the centre was, until January 2017, managed by the Chinese engineers.
A number of African leaders have openly dismissed the claims and questioned the motive and timing of the story.
AU Commission chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat said there was no evidence on the presence of spying devices or anything related to that in the building at any given time.
“At no point has there been evidence of espionage in the building,” he told journalists shortly after the AU summit.
Others argued that issues deliberated at the African Union headquarters are public in nature and are often discussed in the presence of many people from across the world and from varied backgrounds, and would not qualify as secrets that would necessitate spying.
“There is nothing to be spied here. I don’t believe it,” Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn told the news conference after the AU summit.
The growing integration efforts within Africa will definitely attract some resistance amongst other challenges. However, it is hard to believe that Le Monde story was in the interest of Africa or Africans.
 editorial@newtimes.co.rw