An investigation by the Washington Post claims that Huawei Technologies helped Uganda’s President Museveni spy on Bobi Wine.
President Yoweri Museveni and Bobi Wine have been at loggerheads over the president’s continuous stay in power.
According to the report, Huawei technicians helped authorities in Uganda to intercept encrypted messages to penetrate a WhatsApp chat group in which musician and politician Bobi Wine is a member.
After gaining access to the private messages, Ugandan authorities allegedly used the information in the WhatsApp group to prevent street rallies and arrested Wine and dozens of his supporters.
Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, is a hip-hop artist and Member of Parliament. He is a fierce critic of President Yoweri Museveni.
Huawei Technologies is one of the world’s largest telecommunications company. It dominates African markets where it has sold security tools that governments use for digital surveillance and censorship.
Earlier this year, the Chinese company was blacklisted by the American president, Donald Trump. The ban meant that American companies like Google could no longer do business with Huawei because its a threat to national security.
The American president received knocks from critics who believed that Huawei’s market dominance influenced the ban. They claimed the dominance was a threat to Apple’s sales and shares.
They further anticipated that since Apple is an America company, President Trump only acted to protect their interest.
This is not the first time Huawei has faced accusations of spying for the government. In Zambia, Huawei technicians allegedly helped the government access the phones and Facebook pages of opposition bloggers behind a pro-opposition news site that criticized President Edgar Lungu.
The Huawei employees located the bloggers and were in contact with the police units deployed to arrest them.
The development was confimed by both Spokespersons from Uganda and Zambia’s that they are working with Huawei technicians.
In a statement provided to The Washington Post, a Huawei spokesperson wrote: “Huawei rejects these unfounded and inaccurate allegations against our business operations completely. Our internal investigation shows clearly that Huawei and its employees have not engaged in any of the activities alleged. We do not have the contracts nor the capabilities to do so.”
Bobi Wine declared earlier this month that he would challenge Museveni for the presidency. The MP cum singer currently faces treason charges.
The charges were in connection to August 2018 protest that led to the stoning of President Museveni’s motorcade.
The accusation comes days after the death of Ugandan Musician Ziggy Wine who succumbed to injuries after being abducted and tortured by unknown people. Bobi Wine believes President Museveni ordered the torture.
The artist was a close friend of Bobi Wine and a supporter of the resistance movement in the country.
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