Angola and Cabo Verde are conducting projects to increase security in their main cities, using video surveillance, using Chinese technology and financing, with a view to improving conditions for activities such as tourism.

Angola’s president, João Lourenço, on 30 of December in Luanda opened the Integrated Centre for Public Security (CISP) unit, which coordinates 16 provincial centres under construction, as part of a project financed by a credit line from China.

Seven hundred cameras have been installed in the streets of the Angolan capital connected to the CISP, assisting the police in identifying people and controlling public areas.

At the opening of the CISP, the Angolan President was shown how the new pioneering facility works and how it implements a new concept of public security.

The centre, built in an area of about 8,000 square metres, is equipped with video surveillance, a dispatch room, quick response command centre and a laboratory, among other technological facilities.

The connection of the central unit in Luanda with the provincial centres will be made using fibre optic networks, satellite and microwave communications, and the system also includes patrol aircraft, command and communication vehicles and peripheral equipment, such as mobile and fixed stations.

The centre will be operated by 45 employees who have received specific training in China.

Cabo Verde was a pioneer in the installation of video surveillance with support from China, through the Cidade Segura (Secure City) Project, in Praia in 2017, which was considered successful by the Government.

In December, the Government of Cabo Verde hired Chinese group Huawei to expand the video surveillance system to the islands of São Vicente, Sal and Boa Vista, with the aim of making the country more secure as a tourist destination.

The largest investment will be made in São Vicente, where a system of cameras controlled from a command centre will be set up, similar to the one already up and running in Praia.

Speaking during the ceremony, the ambassador of China in Cabo Verde, Du Xiaocong, noted that this was the first project of its kind implemented by the Chinese government in West Africa, which shows that the two countries are “looking to the future through new phases of cooperation based on technologies,” within the framework of promoting local public safety and increased security. (macauhub)