Shock claim UK spied on SA
Diplomatic row erupts after US whistle-blower’s revelations
BRITAIN’S high commissioner to South Africa might be hauled before the International Relations Department as a diplomatic spy row explodes.
The uproar centres on reports in UK newspaper The Guardian that Britain used “groundbreaking intelligence capabilities” to monitor communications between South African officials at two meetings, in April and September of 2009, at the height of the chaotic transition from the presidency of Thabo Mbeki to that of Jacob Zuma.
The South African High Commission and its diplomats, as well as other foreign embassies and diplo- mats, were spied on during the G20 summit in London and at meetings leading up to the event.
According to the report, British agents repeatedly hacked foreign diplomats’ phones and e-mails.
The scandal was blown open by former US National Security Agency whistle-blower Edward Snowden.
According to The Guardian, documents classified top secret reveal that the UK Government Communications Headquarters intercepted the communications of visiting delegations at G20 meetings. The GCHQ operation included: ý Internet cafes set up by British intelligence at which agents used an e-mail interception programme and key-logging software to spy on delegates;
ý Penetrating the security of delegates’ BlackBerry phones to monitor their e-mail and calls;
ý Supplying 45 analysts with live, round-the-clock summaries of who was phoning who at the summit;
ý Targeting the Turkish finance minister and possibly 15 others in his party; and
ý Receiving reports from an NSA attempt to eavesdrop on Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev.
The documents reportedly sug- gest the operation was sanctioned, in principle, at a senior level in the government of then Labour prime minister Gordon Brown. One of the documents summarises a sustained campaign to penetrate South African officials’ computers. British agents gained access to the computer network of Pretoria’s Foreign Ministry, “investigated phone lines used by the South African High Commission in London” and “retrieved documents including briefings for South African del- egates to G20 and G8 meetings”.
A South African diplomatic source said the British high commissioner would be called in to explain her country’s alleged actions.
“Though still allegations, the fact that the UK prime minister refuses to talk about them adds to the serious concern our government has over this disgusting behaviour,” the source said.
International Relations and Cooperation spokesman Clayson Monyela said the government had noted the reports with concern. “We do not yet have the full details . . . in principle, we condemn the abuse of privacy and basic human rights . . . We call on the UK govern- ment to investigate this matter with a view to taking strong and visible action against any perpetrators.”
Cornered at the opening of yesterday’s G8 summit, British Prime Minister David Cameron refused to comment. “We never comment on security or intelligence,” he said.
British High Commission spokesman Isabel Potgieter also declined to comment.
SA Institute for International Affairs research associate and former ambassador to Turkey, Tom Wheeler, said: “Our government has to react like this . . . it has to be seen to be doing something, but in reality nothing more than a tap on the wrist will be given because, like the world over, we do the same thing.” – Additional reporting by Sapa-AFP