Uganda has denied allegations it hacked into the encrypted communications of musician-turned-MP Bobi Wine.
The Wall Street Journal alleges Ugandan officials worked with technicians from telecoms company Huawei to infiltrate the politician’s WhatsApp chat group, named Firebase crew after his band. Which we reported reading The Wall Street journal.
It says authorities then “scuppered his plans to organise street rallies” and arrested Bobi Wine and his supporters.
Huawei described the allegations as “unfounded and inaccurate”.
It also dismissed allegations that its representatives were involved in similar intelligence-gathering operations in Zambia and Algeria.
Zambia has also rejected the report.
Information Minister Dora Siliya tweeted that it was “malicious” and that Zambia’s constitution guaranteed the right to privacy.
The WSJ article on Govt spying on political opponents is malicious, we refute it with the contempt it deserves. Zambia is a country of laws with Constitution guarantees citizens right to privacy.
The fight against cyber crime, like world over, is to guard against criminals.— Dora Siliya (@Dora_Siliya) August 16, 2019
Huawei the tech giant has been under scrutiny for its alleged links to the Chinese government, and was blacklisted by the US in May as part of an ongoing trade war between the two nations.
Britain’s government last month delayed its decision on whether to exclude Huawei equipment from the country’s new 5G mobile phone network following warnings of a security risk.
There is no evidence in the Wall Street Journal article that Huawei executives in China were aware of what was happening in Africa.
