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

Thu Oct 23 23:04:02 SAST 2008

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] 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/>
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
 <mailto:adiel at afrinic.net> adiel at afrinic.net -  <http://www.afrinic.net/>
www.afrinic.net          sip:  <mailto:adiel at voip.afrinic.net>
adiel at voip.afrinic.net
-------
Register to attend AfriNIC-9 Meeting in Mauritius: 22-28 November 2008
 <http://meeting.afrinic.net/afrinic9/index.htm>
http://meeting.afrinic.net/afrinic9/index.htm 

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