[AfrICANN-discuss] .Africa project communique (Task force)

Sun Nov 14 17:59:25 SAST 2010

Dear Badru ,McTeam-

Thanks for your comments on DCA.

Sorry, my comments are a bit long, but DCA's perpective had to be told.

You see Badru, DCA did not only bring a .africa proposal to AU and many others, which you seem to think is the only propriety we have. No it is not, given that AU and ECA and many others endorsed us and gave us the same, mandate to pursue the effort, DCA has built a business around it.  We have set the tone, created the theme, have many generation.africa followings who appreciate and follow our mission and vision.

I would not say that any efforts out there should not be combined, but DCA has put the efforts and spent a lot of money and time to satisfy its mandate and we are in the company of great followings.  

What I suggest is that we really must all make an effort to present a fair and unbiased view to the community of what we know and be careful not to "misinform" in support of one group or another.  This has happened as you now in recent technical forums, which you know about.

You mentioned ICANN wants a proposal with community acceptance.  I always felt that some who have been involved in the close knit group of ICANN have narrowly defined the "African community" to be themselves. which is incorrect.  Unfortunately that is not the case, there are 1B people out there that are considered "communities" for Africa.  So that is my answer to you.  Who represents these people and why do we speak on their behalf?  Who has made the effort of inclusion towards this end.  

To shade additional light to what ICANN guide book says, for geographic names, the approval for the license comes from governments and not the technical community. It only refers that it is good if the "organization is known by the communities".   Additionally it says, any rejection by a minimum 2 governments will stop the process, no need to go further.  That equally applies for AU application if they in fact decide to go forward.  We do not need ICANN to do the rejection for us. 

ICANN, despite McTim's comments have not right to reject an application based on competition.  It is a bid system they set up themselves, so ICANN should and will encourage competition, that is the whole idea behind bidding, seletion of the best proposal.  Therefore, Africa should solve its own issues, as for ICANN will not stop any competition.  Its position is to select a proposal that meets the stated requirement.  So Africa should not combine its proposal because of fear of rejection by ICANN, as that is not true, we should combine it because it is good for Africa, understanding the facts on our own ground. 

Therefore, from where I stand, I do not think the  decision of .africa issue will be influenced by the technical community, as it is also not a technical project only, despite we all want to thinks so.  It is political, perhaps it has always been, so I would leave it at that.

Also, from my point of view, it is a fact that the African Union can not get in commercial activities of domain name, as they do not have a mandate over it, even if they have asked for it.  Maybe one needs to understand the role of our continental organization.  That said, from what I see of the current framed picture, they are the smoke screen behind whoever wants to do .africa.  Therefore, to answer to your comment Badru, Whoever is behind the frame should be joining what has already started and not reinvent the wheel.  As it has been said many time, all is fair in love and war, so DCA will continue to execute its mandate and satisfy ICANN's requirement.  

I am sorry my comment were too long as well, but hope this helps to clarify matters from our perspective as well as overall facts.

Respectfully,

On Nov 14, 2010, at 2:01 AM, "Badru Ntege \(NFT\)" <badru.ntege at nftconsult.com> wrote:

> Nebiyu and All
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> I do believe after years of our own internal self orchestrated divisions as a people in Africa from all parts of the continent we drafted our own marginalization into becoming what is known today as the third world.
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> As a continent time has run out and we now need to put our differences aside and look to what we believe is good for Africa.  As longer as we proface to do it for the continent lets sit on the same table.  Since this committee has been set up I would suggest that all different parties should come to the foe and allow us to create something for the continent which has no personal or individual agenda’s.
> 
>  
> 
> My suggestion is DCA should find a way of joining this committee so we have one initiative from Africa to be presented to the general community.  If I’m not mistaken the ICANN rules expect an initiative to have full support from the community.    We all at one time or another will initiate a process that at one time or another we find prudent to share with a wider community for the good of the common good.  It might be fact that DCA was the first to present a proposal for .Africa and if so the community will and should appreciate their insight.   However the time has come for us to back an initiative from the AU since as a continent we gave that body some level of mandate to look into and foster cross border initiatives for the African continent.
> 
>  
> 
> Lets move ahead as one.  And if it means to add someone from DCA on this task force let it be done.  But lets stop this African self sabotage.  We owe it to our future generations.
> 
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> Sorry for the long ranting but I hope somewhere between the lines you get my point J
> 
>  
> 
> Regards
> 
>  
> 
> Badru
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>  
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> 
> From: africann-bounces at afrinic.net [mailto:africann-bounces at afrinic.net] On Behalf Of Nebster
> Sent: Sunday, November 14, 2010 12:37 AM
> To: africann at afrinic.net
> Cc: <africann at afrinic.net>
> Subject: Re: [AfrICANN-discuss] .Africa project communique (Task force)
> 
>  
> 
> "Please be advised that there is  a proposal by DotConnectAfrica to apply for the .africa gTLD.   The statement by Mr. Brian to support another initiative does not take away that DCA is a full participant in this process.
> Thank you,
> Nebiyu"
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> 
> On Nov 12, 2010, at 2:33 AM, "Manager" <antahigiye at tznic.or.tz> wrote:
> 
> Apologies for cross posting.
> 
> 
> Eng. Ntahigiye Abibu
> Manager, tzNIC
> Tel: +255 22 2 772 659
> Cel:  +255 784 279 511
> 
> 
> <Communique_on_DotAfrica_08Nov2010_v2.pdf>
> 
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