[AfrICANN-discuss] Help with .africa history

[Dr Yassin Mshana]

Dear Rebecca (and now to all Africans concerned),

May I bring you back to the email below which I had sent before this
request became a battle zone? I warned about dishonesty and misleading
stories from parties with 'persona interests' in .africa.

I am surprised to read the level of personal attacks and character
assassinations taking place in public! - shame on us Africans. It is time
professionalism was observed.

As mentioned earlier that the Story of .africa will dwell on the
application process,.... it has been proved true now.

Finally, as a journalist who is looking for a story, there are ethics to
adhere to and professional code. The bottom line is not to end up writing a
story which will look to be biased, favouring any party, neither should the
story read like one written in fear of paid for (canvassing?).

For those who find it of benefit to smear mud on each other: Many people
who are reading the exchange of bitter emails - it will not be surprising
should one end up in court...? That should not happen but who is to stop
that?

Good day everybody.

Yassin
(For true Africa!)


On 28 June 2012 17:53, Dr Yassin Mshana <ymshana2003 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear Rebecca,
>
> Thank you for asking for information that will help in writing the History
> of .africa. That gives a good feeling.
>
> I have read your draft (a provocative work in progress version) - you have
> attended a number of ICANN meetings, IGFs, ICT Fora and other Internet
> related development activities; that might be the reason for the need to
> write the History (if it has been made? - good stuff!)
>
> May I suggest that you interview participants at the ICANN-Accra meeting
> (2000) because most of them were from business constituent i.e. one of the
> pillars that ICANN policies/structure are built? You will hear conflicting
> version of the story from individuals based on their personal interests or
> wishes (need I say more to you the Journalist?). I do not wish to suggest
> that you do not contact such individuals - please do listen to all what
> they say and extract the Truth.
>
> Secondly, may strongly suggest that you avoid the politicization of the
> Internet in our continent (it is unfortunate so): you know very well how
> Political changes have affected some of the economic activities in our
> beloved Africa. Political changes have had mixed effects in the development
> of Internet-based economies e.g. simple mobile telephony is not enjoyed
> freely by all Africans let alone access to the Internet. The appetite to
> control the phenomenon is there - that is what ICANN community is not in
> favour of.
>
> May I suggest that you interview a cross-section of Africans who have
> served in the ICANN Board to date in order to get the inside story that cab
> be open to public (if FOI applies) - Kenya and Senegal had reps at the
> ICANN Board. In addition, ccNSO Council and the At-Large members will share
> their stories on ICANN Policy Dev Processes.
>
> Unfortunately there has been mudslinging when we Africans found that
> .africa was up for grabs!!! Shamelessly, character assassinations took
> place, political bodies were brought in, Government Officials were invited
> to meetings attended by a minority individual opinion leaders, businesses
> and organisations that may have not necessarily represented the wishes of
> all Africans [The big question issue here is, that mode of self-selection
> to represent Africa may be biased or mislead - it happened - please dwell
> on what happened during pre-ICANN Dakar mtg and what followed after that -
> not a 100% happy].
>
> It seems that gTLD saga is putting African Internet business in a delicate
> situation: Is it a new version of Scramble for Africa by Africans? The PDP
> by ICANN is there to refer to in addition to clear Guidelines for gTLD
> applications, one wonders why the infighting? Is that a sign of maturity,
> strength or weakness - market forces will give the answer. We may lose the
> chance to take part in the global economy due to manner some
> opinion-leaders in Internet Development in Africa behaved.
>
> [In that case, it would be fair to record the African struggle for a place
> in the Internet-based economy is marked by some elements of
> misrepresentations, some Pull Him/Her Down, elbowing, shoving and undue use
> of influences (especially external)  - whew!!... it is war!] Some divisions
> emerged as well..... Do we constitute a Team or a Group of individuals?
> Shall we win that way?
>
> I am pleased to have this chance to write about this concern - otherwise
> we will hear it from non-African sources.
>
> God bless Africa and its people who protect and promote the vulnerable!!
> Amen.
>
> Yassin
>
> Yassin
>
> There may be many
>
> On 28 June 2012 08:59, Rebecca Wanjiku <rebecca.wanjiku at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I am writing on the history of .africa and there seems to be conflicting
>> information on when the initial expression of running of .africa was made.
>> Was there an actual application to ICANN or not?
>>
>> If you have a recollection of the events then, please help me out.
>>
>> I have drafted the brief history and if there is another part of it that
>> I am getting wrong, please correct me.
>>
>> Here it is....
>>
>> History of dot Africa
>>
>>
>> At the beginning of the second round of the new Generic Top Level Domain
>> (gTLD) application in 2000, an entrepreneur from a western country had the
>> idea of running dot Africa.
>>
>>
>> The entrepreneur approached Nii Quaynor and Pierre Danjinou, Africa's
>> well known technology ambassadors to organize support for the redelegation
>> and operation of the geographic domain.
>>
>>
>> By the time ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers)
>> held its first meeting in Africa in Accra in 2002, the idea of redelegation
>> of dot Africa was floated to other experts and the feeling was that at that
>> time, Africa had other more challenging problems like redelegation of
>> country code Top Level Domains, connectivity infrastructure issues, and
>> policy development among other challenges.
>>
>>
>> It was largely agreed that the best approach was to tackle the elementary
>> problems such as connectivity and redelegation of ccTLDs before dealing
>> with dot Africa, but the debate continued.
>>
>>
>> Some of the elementary problems were: connecting the Eastern Africa
>> region with the fiber optic cable to reduce its reliance on satellite
>> connectivity, increasing the number of fiber optic cables in west Africa to
>> further reduce connectivity costs, boosting network infrastructure to
>> interconnect different countries and exchange content locally and
>> developing registry operations to support growth of country code Top Level
>> Domains, among other challenges.
>>
>>
>> The policy and infrastructure discussions started an investment wave that
>> saw several investors coming together to initiate several fiber optic
>> cables in such-EASSY, TEAMS, and SEACOM among others. These investment
>> vehicles were both private and public-private partnerships.
>>
>>
>> By 2006, it was clear that the connectivity hurdle was going to be
>> cleared and the debate focused back to dot Africa. In the meantime,
>> European countries had rallied behind dot EU and Asian countries were
>> galvanizing support for dot Asia.
>>
>>
>> In Africa, the debate was centered around the shape and form of dot
>> Africa organization, and the role governments and private sector would play
>> in promoting dot Africa, and how the organization would contribute to
>> training and infrastructure development.
>>
>>
>> Between 2007 and 2008, a private sector initiative emerged, promising to
>> run dot Africa with the support of the African Union but it was marred by
>> controversy because the African Union Commission only expressed its
>> intention to rally African countries behind dot Africa in 2009 and in 2010,
>> Africa TLD organization (AfTLD) which brings together ccTLDs in the region,
>> rendered its support to the AUC in sponsoring and selecting the right
>> organization to run dot Africa TLD.
>>
>>
>> In 2011, the AU invited interested companies based in Africa to express
>> interest in running dot Africa, clearly showing their registry operational
>> experience, stating where the registry operations will be based, how the
>> operation will benefit African countries and a methodology of how these
>> benefits will trickle down.
>>
>>
>> After deliberations on the technical, financial ability and benefits to
>> Africa tech community, UNIFORUM was selected by the AUC as the organization
>> to establish and run dot Africa.
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Becky
>>
>> 254 720318925
>>
>> www.wanjiku.co.ke
>>
>> twitter; wanjiku
>>
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>>
>>
>
>
> --
> *Independent Consultant*
> c/o DFID-Sierra Leone
> 5 Off Spur Road, Wilberforce
> Freetown,SIERRA LEONE
> Skype: yassinmshana1, Mobile:+23276926697, Fax: (+232) 22235769
> *Do You really NEED TO PRINT THIS?*
>  * "The illiterates of the 21st century are not those who cannot read or*
> * write** but those who cannot learn, relearn and unlearn" Alvin Toffler*
>
>


-- 
*Independent Consultant*
c/o DFID-Sierra Leone
5 Off Spur Road, Wilberforce
Freetown,SIERRA LEONE
Skype: yassinmshana1, Mobile:+23276926697, Fax: (+232) 22235769
*Do You really NEED TO PRINT THIS?*
 * "The illiterates of the 21st century are not those who cannot read or*
* write** but those who cannot learn, relearn and unlearn" Alvin Toffler*
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