Destination Africa: The scramble to sell cyberweapons to dictators

This communicative is portion of the bid Leaked: The Altrnativ satellite of cybersurveillance. Read the rest.

PARIS — As laminitis of the privacy-focused hunt motor Qwant, Eric Leandri was fond of citing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The self-styled European tech champion has mentioned the landmark United Nations papers successful interviews astatine slightest a twelve times since 2017. 

“I emotion quality rights,” Leandri said successful September 2021, referring to the conception successful the declaration guaranteeing the close to privacy. “With my company, I’ve ever fought for Article 12 and the close to a backstage life.” 

These days, however, Leandri is successful a antithetic enactment of business. Even arsenic helium spoke those words, his caller institution Altrnativ had expansive ambitions to merchantability its services to African countries with histories of quality rights abuses. 

Internal Altrnativ documents seen by POLITICO incorporate transportation decks with the company's logo offering the governments of Benin, Chad, Cameroon, Comoros, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo a scope of cyberweapons. Some see a backpack-sized instrumentality susceptible of tapping and tracking phones up to 10 kilometers away, a bulk-surveillance instrumentality susceptible of monitoring net communications connected a ample standard and malware susceptible of taking implicit a target's smartphone. Altrnativ besides prepared transportation documents offering different services, instrumentality and quality grooming to governments successful Ivory Coast and Senegal. 

Leandri’s activities successful Africa connection a glimpse into the booming cyberweapons commercialized connected the continent, arsenic peddlers of integer weaponry scramble to unafraid contracts with repressive governments. They besides uncover however his institution recruited erstwhile French officials, arsenic it sought concern successful the French-speaking regions that erstwhile made up the country’s assemblage empire. 

It remains unclear whether these countries bought and utilized these tools, but “this benignant of tech is simply a immense assistance to autocrats seeking to stay successful power,” said John Scott-Railton, elder researcher from the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, which studies integer espionage. “The terms is going to beryllium paid by citizens of these African countries who are going to beryllium perpetually surveilled and monitored.”  

When contacted by POLITICO, Leandri acknowledged taking portion successful pitches to African countries, but insisted his institution lone offered a level analyzing publically disposable data, and that Altrnativ's products were simply portion of a larger package.  

“These are not our offers,” helium said. He added that unspecified partners included Altrnativ’s products to their offers but that helium had nary power implicit it. He declined to specify what partners helium was talking about. 

Altrnativ's logo appears connected transportation documents to each of the 8 countries for which the offers were prepared. Leandri is listed arsenic the ineligible typical successful offers to 4 of the 8 countries. 

Africa dreams 

Leandri expressed his involvement successful Africa astatine a cybersecurity league successful Paris successful June 2021. He had conscionable returned from a sojourn to Ivory Coast and had travel distant impressed. 

“The technologies we person successful Europe contiguous volition truly person an interaction that could alteration our mode of participating successful the maturation of a continent that, let's remember, was connected to thing and that is present hyperconnected,” helium said. “This is wherever our know-how, our European values, our logic, marque it imaginable to supply sovereign technological solutions that we tin deploy determination and person a existent impact." 

Leandri plays down his company’s relation successful selling blase cyberweapons to African countries. But astir the clip these pitches were made, helium was already moving with elder erstwhile French diplomats and officials with acquisition successful the portion oregon connections wrong the French establishment. 

In 2020, Altrnativ hired Gérard Errera, a erstwhile ambassador to NATO and the United Kingdom who is present elder advisor to the Blackstone Group France and works arsenic a advisor for American, Chinese and French companies. “I counsel him wherever I tin beryllium useful,” Errera told POLITICO, adding helium was inactive moving with Altrnativ but had nary relation successful connecting Leandri with African countries.  

Another erstwhile French official, François-Xavier Hauet, was hired by Altrnativ successful December 2021 to pb the company’s planetary expansion. Hauet’s erstwhile presumption was deputy manager of accusation systems astatine the Elysée Palace, French President Emmanuel Macron’s authoritative residence.  

According to 2 radical who person antecedently done concern with Altrnativ and respective erstwhile employees, the erstwhile caput of France’s homeland quality services Bernard Squarcini was often seen successful Altrnativ’s offices. A typical for Squarcini said the erstwhile spy main met with Leandri connected 4 to 5 occasions but that the 2 were “never successful a concern relationship.” 

“It was alternatively a question of enlightening him connected the French organization interior workings, astir those successful powerfulness successful antithetic services for which helium wanted to beryllium authorized to work, oregon connected the enactment of definite African countries wherever helium seemed to privation to expand,” the typical said. 

Cameroon offer 

The documents amusement a squad of executives from Altrnativ met with Cameroon officials successful March 2021. They don’t specify who was successful the delegation oregon wherever the gathering took place, but they amusement Altrnativ had its archetypal assemblage with the President’s bureau of Cameroon connected March 22, 2021, according to 2 letters seen by POLITICO.  

The travel was followed up little than a period aboriginal with a 200-page transportation papers and a 60-page PowerPoint presentation. The longer transportation was presented nether the marque sanction Metalexport-S (MEX), a weapons supplier headquartered successful Poland with a subsidiary successful the United Arab Emirates, and included Altrnativ's merchandise and logo. The logos of some companies look astatine the apical of each leafage of the PowerPoint.  

In the metadata of the documents seen by POLITICO, the writer of the 60-page presumption and the past idiosyncratic who saved the 200-page transportation is “Thierry Carbou.” That is the sanction of a French-Canadian arms trader of Cameroonian origin. On astatine slightest 1 societal media account, Carbou identifies himself arsenic based successful the UAE and arsenic an advisor to the Board of MEX since January 2017. He is besides CEO of Abu Dhabi-based Saarem LLC, which describes its concern arsenic “integration and proviso of ground, airborne precocious equipment, solutions and exclusive combat training," and president of Legion Group, different arms company. POLITICO contacted some MEX and Saarem but received nary reply. A nonstop query to Carbou besides went unanswered.   

On their websites, Legion Group and MEX connection the aforesaid instrumentality and usage virtually identical connection to picture a cornucopia of ammunition, tanks, aerial defence systems and guns for sale. 

The transportation documents described Altrnativ's customized hunt motor “Targets,” which it claimed could supply accusation connected people, including geolocation data, and usage publically disposable information to gully connections betwixt places, radical and entities.  

It besides detailed a bid of cyber surveillance tools. With names similar “Arrows,” “Alpha” and “Cerebro IDPR,” the assorted cyberweapons for merchantability included devices deployable successful a car, vessel oregon airplane that could show each dependable calls successful a 5 kilometer to 10 kilometer radius, ping a telephone to find its location, show net connections from a ample fig of people, pat into section telecom networks oregon show encrypted apps similar Telegram oregon WhatsApp. 

The products connected connection see immoderate of the biggest marque names successful interception tools. Cerebro is the sanction of a tool produced by Nexa Technologies, a cybersurveillance steadfast that was indicted successful France in October for “complicity successful acts of torture and of enforced disappearances” aft it sold its products to the Egyptian government. In a statement, Nexa Technologies said its income had received export power support from the French government. It said it had not done concern done Altrnativ and had stopped selling Cerebro successful June 2021 (the Altrnativ transportation papers offering the instrumentality was drafted earlier that date).

Trovicor, a shaper of “lawful interception and quality technology” whose sanction is peppered done the 200 pages transportation document, told POLITICO it was not alert of an connection related to Cameroon. “We cognize of Altrnativ but person ne'er completed immoderate concern with them and bash not person immoderate ceremonial relationship,” the institution said successful a statement. “We bash not cognize of MEX (Metalexport-S) and person nary narration with them.”  

The Altrnativ documents don't incorporate grounds Cameroon bought immoderate of these cyberweapons. But they bash incorporate an OSINT study connected the country’s Finance Minister Louis-Paul Motaze. It’s unclear who, if anyone, commissioned the study but its stated intent was an effort to “uncover corrupt practices oregon insider trading orchestrated by Mister Motaze.”  

The documents connection nary grounds of specified practices beyond a bid of media articles alleging corruption involving Motaze — a relative of and possible successor to Cameroonian President Paul Biya. Motaze did not reply to a petition for comment. 

The 16-page report, dated June 2021, lists the minister’s societal media accounts connected LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube and Flickr, arsenic good arsenic those of his woman and children.  

Autocratic customers 

Cyberweaponry is simply a rapidly increasing industry, with the imaginable for superior abuses. In Europe, caller spyware scandals person rocked Greece, Spain, France, Hungary and Poland. 

It’s unclear from the documents to what grade Altrnativ’s Africa ventures were successful. As of September 2021, Altrnativ documents amusement the institution expected to person millions of dollars successful contracts from African countries.  

This included €13.8 cardinal from Ivory Coast, which the institution had offered vigor surveillance instrumentality and quality training, €2.9 cardinal from Senegal, which was offered quality training, and €4 cardinal from Chad, wherever according to an email, Altrnativ was preparing to enactment with outer images and drones to show the operations of 300 golden mines and connection 3D renderings of the country.  

Beyond Cameroon, Altrnativ prepared akin transportation documents, offering cyber surveillance tools to the governments of Chad, Comoros, Benin, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo, besides known arsenic Congo-Brazzaville, each of which person histories of quality rights abuses. 

The authorities of Cameroon has cracked down connected planetary NGOs and governmental dissenters according to Human Rights Watch. It’s besides nary alien to integer suppression. Between 2017 and 2018, the state shut down the internet for much than 230 days.  

According to the U.S. authorities department, quality rights abuses successful Comoros see torture, arbitrary detention and "the worst forms of restrictions connected escaped expression, the press, and the internet.” The authorities section besides says determination person been “credible reports” successful the Republic of the Congo of “unlawful oregon arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings by the government; torture oregon cruel, inhuman, oregon degrading attraction oregon punishment by the government.  

Benin has seen recent crackdowns connected escaped code and repression of governmental opponents. The 2016 elections successful Gabon were marked by violence aft the reelection by a slim borderline of Ali Bongo Ondimba, whose household has held powerfulness for much than 5 decades. 

“The integer gyration has empowered citizens, but it has empowered the almighty a full batch more,” said Sophie successful 't Veld, a Dutch Member of the European Parliament who is the rapporteur of the European Parliament’s PEGA Committee investigating the usage of spyware successful the EU.  

“We are successful a precise risky signifier now,” she added. “People cannot support up with what technologies tin do. What we request is simply a batch much transparency, scrutiny, accountability.” 

Officials from Benin, Chad, Cameroon, Comoros, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast and Senegal did not reply erstwhile contacted for comment. 

Asked whether France was alert of Leandri’s African business, the Elysée did not reply to a petition for comment. 

Jules Darmanin contributed reporting.