IS RWANDA BECOMING AN INTEL HUB?

Behind the glitter of tech innovation and continental ambition, a deeper question must be asked: Is Rwanda positioning itself to become Africa's intelligence hub under the influence of imperialist powers?

This question is raised by President Paul Kagame's role in Smart Africa, an initiative aimed to boost the continent's tech scene and achieve a Single Digital Market by 2030.

As the chair of Smart Africa, based in Kigali, Kagame is pushing for quicker adoption of new technologies like AI across Africa. However, analyst Kambale Musavuli from the Centre for Research on the Congo-Kinshasa believes this isn't the kind of Pan-African initiative that truly benefits us. He warns there's a hidden agenda to centralise intelligence-gathering under the control of imperialist forces looking to exploit our continent further.

Smart Africa’s funding is telling. The Gates Foundation, with deep ties to Microsoft, contributed $7.5 million to launch Rwanda’s AI Scaling Hub in 2022. Yet Microsoft has faced multiple lawsuits for benefiting from child labor in cobalt mines in the DRC, meaning that Gates may not just benefit from data but also from the very instability that enables cheap access to African minerals. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development has partnered with Smart Africa to influence Africa's digital transformation.

Rwanda’s proximity to Israel’s intelligence networks adds another layer. With many African countries receiving special military-intelligence training from Israel, could establishing a base in Western-supported Rwanda be a more cost-effective option? For instance, in a surprising move in 2022, Benin sought Rwanda's expertise in counter-insurgency, leading to the deployment of 350 Rwandan troops. Kigali's 2024 troop deployment in Mozambique was also backed by a €20 million grant from the EU. 

All this echoes a disturbing historical pattern: Western powers delegate control to local allies, creating Black faces of imperialism while maintaining actual control from afar.

Video credit: AfroDominion Media