BRI and Human Security: The Case of Safe City Projects in Mauritius and Uganda

This chapter explores the technological dimension (also known as the Digital Silk Road) of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in two African countries, namely Mauritius and Uganda, by analysing the human security implications of surveillance technology supplied by Huawei. The company has built ‘Safe Cities’ in many African countries—both democratic and non-democratic ones. It involves a network of intelligent cameras that include features like facial recognition technology. These are presented in an attractive language that promises to transform cities into ‘safe’ and ‘smart’ spaces, implying that safe cities promote human security. Coupled with that, the economic argument has usually been used to justify the deployment of surveillance technologies as it is supposed to help the economy thrive by improving domestic security situations. This is an understudied aspect of China-Africa relations as academic attention has focused on more visible and common infrastructural projects like ports, railways, and roads or the natural resource dimensions of these relations. However, given the oppressive manner that such technologies have been utilised internally in China in regions such as Xinjiang, it is worth paying attention to its implications for Africa. Concerns have been raised in both democracies and non-democracies because such technologies, especially in the absence of strong governance structures, provide governments with enormous monitoring powers, thereby strengthening the state’s grip over their citizens. Civil society organisations and political parties in the opposition have unsuccessfully rung the alarm bell to claim more transparency around the operation of such projects. Apprehensions are more pronounced in non-democratic contexts where due to lack of proper checks and balances, there are fears that the surveillance infrastructure will be employed for regime protection purposes. Nonetheless, it will be wrong to think that democracies are immune from such problems. This chapter focuses on two African countries, namely Mauritius and Uganda. Both countries have adopted and implemented Huawei’s safe city solutions amidst a mixed feeling of hope, scepticism, and concerns, depending on their position in society. Those in official positions deliver a discourse of hope while civil society and the press have been sceptical. These two countries are interesting because they are at opposite ends of the political spectrum. Albeit in decline, Mauritius is still considered as a model of democracy in Africa whereas Uganda is administered by an authoritarian regime which has been in power since 1986. Studying the two countries together offers the possibility to see if differences in internal political make-up alter the way that the safe city projects are received by the populace. Both countries also have a longstanding diplomatic relation with China. The chapter will pull out some of the key issues that emerged in the two contexts. The chapter adopts a qualitative approach to research relying on documentary analysis of publicly available documents including speeches, newspaper reports, and official reports. Using a human security perspective, it argues that contrary to official narratives, the safe city project in both Mauritius and Uganda has accentuated feeling of insecurity as the lack of clear governance structures and human rights safeguards around the project deepened a preexisting climate of fear and suspicion generated by other attempts at mass surveillance and curtailment of freedom.