http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona Sibanda 3 March 2011 Construction of the government's secret electronic eavesdropping complex just outside Harare is moving at a 'very fast pace' SW Radio Africa learned on Thursday. It's believed the complex will, amongst many other things, be used to monitor internet use and telephone calls in Zimbabwe. The 'snooping' project, according to a source, is to become the government agency that monitors communications around the whole country. Robert Mugabe officiated at the launch of the building site in 2007. He said then 'the role of defending Zimbabwe cannot be left to mediocre officers incapable of comprehending and analytically evaluating the operational environment to ensure that the sovereignty of our state is not only preserved, but enhanced'. It's believed the current system used by the CIO is able to monitor e-mails, phone calls and internet use for only a small number of high profile opponents of Mugabe, like the entire leadership of the two MDC formations. An information analyst told us the Chinese, who are constructing the complex, are capable of equipping the snooping project with a programme called Mastering the Internet (MTI). This program enables most security agencies to 'spy at will' on emails, website visits, social networking sessions, and telephone calls made over the internet on a massive scale. Reports in the media said the complex, along the Harare to Bindura highway, is also an intelligence academy that will be operated by the CIO and local military intelligence. SW Radio Africa talked to multiple sources who confirmed the site is just a kilometre away from the Marlborough police station along the Mazowe road before Christon bank. 'The actual construction began six months ago and is situated at the old University of Zimbabwe farm. The complex is huge and there are a lot of Chinese builders on the site. They first erected a massive durawall, that anyone passing through the area will not see anything inside,' a source said. An MDC councillor in one of the wards in Christon bank near the complex said there have been conflicting reports about the nature of work that will be done at the site when construction work is completed. 'We are told its going to be a military school, while others say it's going to be a SADC intelligence academy. But whatever it is its massive, looking at the space used for the project,' the councillor said. It has been described as the biggest spend on military infrastructure in Zimbabwe in decades. While most governments have 'spy agencies' that are primarily used as interceptors and decrypters of communications, they are however subject to rigorous scrutiny by their lawmakers. They operate within a legal framework where the interception of information is normally allowed only in cases of national security, safeguarding economic wellbeing and the prevention and detection of serious crime. But in Zimbabwe such operations are out of the radar of parliamentarians and normally target political opponents of the former ruling ZANU PF party. With the heads of the security and military services answerable only to Mugabe, this is unlikely to change. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, discuss-os...@yahoogroups.com. -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor biso...@intellnet.org http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: osint-subscr...@yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe: osint-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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