China-Africa Security Radar published on 21 March 2026 an article titled "Guinea's New Safe City Deal Pushes China's Surveillance Footprint to Nearly Half of Africa."
Guinea obtained a loan from China's Export-Import Bank to install urban surveillance systems across 324 sites in 8 cities. The stated purpose is to enhance public security, emergency response, urban planning, and governance.
At least 26 African countries now have Chinese safe city systems either operational, planned, or stalled. A key feature of these systems is facial recognition. The systems are often installed in a weak regulatory environment leaving them open to abuse.
