Statement on Huawei's Work With the African Union

Huawei has a proud history of delivering world class information and communications technology solutions in Africa. In our 30-year history and work in more than 170 countries and regions, Huawei has never installed a back-door; security is critical to everything we do. Allegations about impropriety with our customer, the African Union (AU) are completely unsubstantiated, and we vehemently reject any such claims.

Huawei confirms the following:

1. Our involvement in the data center infrastructure for the AU headquarters in Ethiopia included two solutions, neither of which accessed customer or business data. The solutions provided to the AU was controlled, managed and operated by the organization's IT staff and Huawei had no access to AU data.
2. As part of our collaboration with the African Union, Huawei supplied Layer 1 telecommunications equipment that carries operational data related to the hardware itself, such as cabinets and cooling systems. The other VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) solution provided the devices, displays, storage equipment, and servers. A benefit of this solution was that core business data was not stored or processed on the equipment. 
3. Today, a small amount of the AU's non-core business data is stored on Huawei servers and storage equipment, but this is owned and managed centrally by the AU operational and maintenance staff. Huawei does not provide the equipment used for the AU's intranet or extranet.

Finally, both Moussa Faki - the Chairperson of the AU Commission - and the former Ethiopian Prime Minister - Hailemariam Desalegn - both vehemently denied reports in the media and elsewhere that data was maliciously stolen from the African Union and are clear that reports to the contrary are untrue and damaging to both Huawei and the African Union.