[AfrICANN-discuss] About the change of AfriNIC-9 venue!

Sat Nov 1 00:49:07 SAST 2008

Hello,

I think this issue need to be explained to the rest of us. It seems that
Journalists are doing their best to inform us from various corners and
views- as we can see in the article shared with us by one of us.

There is need to have a "corporate statement" that would quench the thirsty
for information. What happened is a lesson to be learned by us all.

Cheers

With out  prejudice: Yassin

2008/10/31 Sophia B <sophiabekele at gmail.com>

> A very interesting article on this subject. Also interesting that no one
> posted it on this list provided that it was sent to an AfriNic Board member
> for clarification.
>
> It is obvious that the concept of 'corporate governance' and 'conflict of
> interest' are not yet known to the "few Sr. Technical men"  that are to
> embark on a major initiative that involve Internet governance and policy.
>
> Internet policy is a serious subject and let us please separate the "nics"
> from the "dots".  /sb
>
>
> http://www.heise-online.co.uk/networks/Dispute-over-africa-domain--/news/111809
>
>  28 October 2008, 15:52
>  Dispute over .africa domain
>
> IP address registry AfriNIC <http://www.afrinic.net/> has had to postpone
> its planned November meeting in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa due to
> disagreement over the future location of a .africa address zone. According
> to AfriNIC, the hosts, the Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation, have
> cancelled the ninth meeting of the African address registry at short notice.
> The organisation has thus found itself forced to divert to Mauritius. The
> reason for the Ethiopian cancellation appears to be wrangling over the
> operation of the planned .africa top-level domain (TLD).
>  Advertisement
>
> According to AfriNIC and Ethiopian press reports, the meeting was cancelled
> by the Ethiopian Ministry of Transport and Communication. The Ministry was
> apparently persuaded by warnings from the Ethiopian telecommunications
> industry that AfriNIC is hoping to thwart plans to host .africa from Addis
> Ababa. Ethiopian supporters of the .africa domain claim that AfriNIC wants
> to shift administration of the African domain to Mauritius or South Africa.
>
> AfriNIC CEO Adiel Akplogan stated that the organisation was concerned with
> IP addresses, not domains, "Let me make quite clear that .africa and the
> domain business is not part of AfriNIC's activities." He also noted that his
> organisation welcomes the initiative for an African address zone and would
> support any proposal aiming towards open and transparent operation. However,
> AfriNIC would not itself get involved in domain activities.
>
> Akplogan has, however, been involved in a .africa project in a consultancy
> role, as one AfriNIC employee told heise online, noting that this did not
> represent a break with AfriNIC's fundamental position of neutrality. At the
> same time, AfriNIC has emerged, probably without actually itself taking any
> action, as a possible supporter of a different .africa project. It's
> impossible to say just how many different .africa initiatives there are. At
> the ICANN meeting in Paris, Ethiopian businesswoman Sophia Bekelele spoke of
> efforts to bring the various initiatives together.
>
> One model for this could be the agreement among Asian countries on the .asia
> domain <http://www.dotasia.org/>. Governments were persuaded not to object
> to the application, which originated in Hong Kong. Should conflict over
> .africa arise, ICANN's recently published rules for dispute resolution may
> be of some help.
>
> (*Monika Ermert*)
>
> (lghp <lghp at heise-online.co.uk>)
>
>
> On 24/10/2008, Eric M.K Osiakwan <emko at internetresearch.com.gh> wrote:
>>
>>  Vika and All,
>>
>>
>> Generally, we have to treat such pontification of ignorance and lack of
>> understanding with outmost contempt. Time has a way of dealing with such
>> matters.
>>
>>
>> Whats important is the ability of the AfriNIC team to turn around quickly
>> and establish a venue for the next meeting and ensure uptake. We all need to
>> join the effort to ensure a successful meeting.
>>
>>
>> Good job, guys.
>>
>>
>> Eric here
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>  On 24 Oct 2008, at 00:04, Vika Mpisane wrote:
>>
>>   Hi Adiel,
>>
>>
>>
>> It's really saddening to see that some in the Ethiopian media have seen it
>> fit to write a long, baseless, and frankly ignorant article. I guess it's
>> safe to assume that political paparazzi is alive & strong in Addis!
>>
>>
>>
>> I don't know what AfriNIC has done to deserve this (I haven't attended an
>> AfriNIC meeting since Mauritius in 2006), but I'm certain the journalist
>> will need to explain some of the allegations. Has this journalist ever heard
>> of some entities called AfNOG, AfrISPA, Afren & AfTLD? The answer is
>> obviously not!
>>
>>
>>
>> I'm also offended in particular by the allegation to the effect that
>> AfriNIC is pushing for dot Africa to operate from South Africa. While I
>> can't deny or admit this allegation (me being not an AfriNIC member), I'm
>> concerned that it involves South Africa & may end up becoming an accusation
>> against South Africa trying to muscle its way to have dot Africa operated in
>> SA. I'm not at SA government to speak from a position of authority in this
>> regard, but as a South African, I'm greatly displeased with the article it
>> tends to make negative allegations about us.
>>
>>
>>
>> I feel sorry for ETC for I don't think they've done anything wrong (I'm
>> subject to correction). And I do hope that when calmness & sanity finally
>> prevails in this journalist's mind (& possibly in the Ethiopian Ministry of
>> Transport – depending on how blameworthy they are in this). I hope they'll
>> realize they've greatly missed a simple point big time & they went on a
>> crusade of innuendos not only against a particular organisation, but also
>> against another country (this being SA).
>>
>>
>>
>> Hope you & the rest of AfriNIC keep well inspite of the baseless
>> accusations. Forward to AfriNIC Mauritius – I'm convinced Mauritius will
>> provide a suitable environment where informed participants will be able to
>> discuss the dot Africa project without undue journalistic & government
>> interference.
>>
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>>
>>
>> *Vika Mpisane*
>>
>> General Manager
>>
>> .za Domain Name Authority
>>
>> &
>>
>> Treasurer
>>
>> African Top Level Domains (AfTLD)
>>
>> Tel: +27 11 275 0082
>>
>>
>>  ------------------------------
>>
>> *From:* africann-bounces at afrinic.net [mailto:africann-bounces at afrinic.net<africann-bounces at afrinic.net>]
>> *On Behalf Of *Anne-Rachel Inné
>> *Sent:* Thursday, October 23, 2008 9:28 PM
>> *To:* africann at afrinic.net
>> *Subject:* [AfrICANN-discuss] About the change of AfriNIC-9 venue!
>>
>>
>>
>> Dear Colleagues,
>>
>> As you know, the AfriNIC-9 will now be held in Mauritius instead of Addis
>> Ababa (Ethiopia) as originally planned. This is a unique situation which
>> has affected us all. Many of you have written to us to inquire about what
>> happened and to propose your help. Thanks to you all and your continued
>> support to what we are trying to do at AfriNIC for our Region.
>>
>> We sincerely apologize for the short notice in change of venue. The
>> previous
>> host, ETC (Ethiopia Telecommunication Corporation) notified us that "for
>> some
>> serious reason that needs time to clear and settle", they have been
>> obliged
>> to pend and postpone hosting the AfriNIC-9 meeting. After some
>> investigations to
>> try to understand what is happening, it comes to our attention that
>> the decision
>> comes from the Government who has requested them to suspend the hosting of
>> AfriNIC-9 meeting because they are suspecting AfriNIC to have some
>> hidden agenda
>> with the meeting in Addis Ababa and which has to do with
>> "dotAfrica".  According
>> to the article reproduced bellow, the bid for dotAfrica presented by a
>> Company
>> (leaded by and Ethiopian) has been sabotaged by AfriNIC which prevent her
>> to
>> settle the Headquarters in Ethiopia. According to information we have
>> been
>> able to collect, she claimed that AfriNIC want to host "dotAfrica" in
>> South
>> Africa or Mauritius so is against Ethiopia interests by doing so.
>>
>> Let's me precise here that dotAfrica and domain names businesses are not
>> part
>> of AfriNIC's activities. This serious misunderstanding of what AfriNIC is
>> exactly and its role in the community injected by a person claiming to be
>> the
>> defender of Africa, has unfortunately denied Ethiopia a chance to host
>> this
>> important African technical community meeting. Indeed, AfriNIC which
>> mission
>> is, amongst other to "to support Internet technology usage and
>> development,
>> and promoting Internet governance" in Africa welcomes the opportunity to
>> have
>> a domain (dotAfrica) that will identify the African landscape on the
>> Internet.
>> AfriNIC will probably support any Open, transparent and bottom up
>> initiative
>> to have a dotAfrica domain for the region but will never run or
>> participate
>> in doing any business related to that domain names or any other.
>>
>> AfriNIC remains a service to the community and strongly disagree with
>> personal
>> interests and political pressures on its bottom up processes. AfriNIC
>> developed
>> its legitimacy from the community and will remain a community driven
>> organisation
>> as are the four other Regional Numbers Registries. We have already run our
>> Public Policy meeting in eight  other countries without any issues. Our
>> main
>> objective has always been to raise awareness among the local community of
>> the
>> country we are visiting and involve them more into the process.
>>
>> AfriNIC remains open to all of us.
>>
>> Let's keep focused on our numerous objectives and challenges in an open
>> transparent with a systematic multi-stakeholder approach.
>>
>> The whole story is now released by the local press and available at:
>> http://www.ethiopianreporter.com/content/view/3048/54/. A very quick
>> English
>> translation is also attached.
>>
>> Kind Regards.
>>
>>
>> ______________________________________________________________________
>> Adiel A. Akplogan                            Tel. +230 466 66 16
>> Chief Executive Officer, AfriNIC            Fax: +230 466 67 58
>> adiel at afrinic.net - www.afrinic.net          sip: adiel at voip.afrinic.net
>> -------
>> Register to attend AfriNIC-9 Meeting in Mauritius: 22-28 November 2008
>> http://meeting.afrinic.net/afrinic9/index.htm
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>>  Eric M.K Osiakwan
>> Director
>> Internet Research
>> www.internetresearch.com.gh
>> emko at internetresearch.com.gh
>> 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North
>> Tel: +233.21.258800 ext 7031
>> Fax: +233.21.258811
>> Cell: +233.24.4386792
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>
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