Morocco’s Police Deny Reports of Huawei Surveillance Contract

Huawei would be the "preferred supplier" of the Moroccan police, according to an article in Africa Intelligence published on September 2. "The head of the Directorate General of National Security (DGSN) has ordered the large-scale installation of Huawei’s video surveillance systems, including facial recognition, in the main cities of the kingdom," the publication reads. "This information is false," declares a senior DGSN official contacted by Atlasinfo.fr.

Huawei officials had indeed visited the DGSN to present their national urban video protection system, but they had been redirected to the services in charge of the Ministry of the Interior, which oversee the governors who have project management control.

"This shows a lack of knowledge of the laws governing the awarding of tenders in Morocco, where any acquisition, of whatever nature, is done through a tender process, as soon as the amount of the transaction exceeds 200,000 dirhams (a little more than 18,300 euros)," affirms the senior DGSN official.

As for radio communication, the Huawei company was consulted as part of a tender for the modernization of the DGSN’s national radio network. However, Huawei’s financial offer being higher than that of its competitors in this consultation, it was the Nokia company that was ultimately selected.