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

Fri Oct 31 19:19:25 SAST 2008

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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