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<p class="MsoNormal"
style="text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none"><font face="Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 11pt;" lang="EN-GB">Over the
past weeks and following on from talks at last year's ITU WTSA
and WCIT events, both AFRINIC and the RIPE NCC have been asked
to participate
in discussions concerning the possibility of establishing a
new Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for the Arabic-speaking
community.<o:p> <br>
</o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none"><font face="Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 11pt;" lang="EN-GB">In the
spirit of open community discussion both AFRINIC and the RIPE
NCC
felt that it was essential that we bring this to the attention
of our members
and community.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none"><font face="Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 11pt;" lang="EN-GB">It is
imperative to note that these discussions have not in any way
been
instigated by the management or staff of either AFRINIC or the
RIPE NCC. The
matter has been raised and promoted by representatives of
certain governments
in the Arab community.<o:p> <br>
</o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none"><font face="Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 11pt;" lang="EN-GB">AFRINIC
is proud to serve the needs of its members in Arab speaking
states, in Northern Africa and believes that the existing
system can meet the
needs of a growing membership from the region. Through its
structure AFRINIC
also allows the region to be well represented in its governing
Board and has
held several members meeting in the region since its creation
in 2005.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none"><font face="Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 11pt;" lang="EN-GB">As you
are all aware, an RIR provides a range of services, including
managing its service region’s Internet number resources (IPv4,
IPv6 and ASNs),
maintaining proper records of all registry activities in a
publicly accessible
database (whois),</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"
lang="EN-GB"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"
lang="EN-GB">as well as capacity building and training on use
of
these resources. RIRs also provide general support for
regional Internet
Infrastructure, and facilitate community discussion and
engagement.<o:p> </o:p>AFRINIC has played a vital role in
unifying the policies that govern the
entire Africa/Indian Ocean region and by lowering the entry
barrier for all
African operators to obtain their own Internet Number
Resources has enabled
smaller operators in the region to grow and develop.<o:p> <br>
</o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none"><font face="Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 11pt;" lang="EN-GB">AFRINIC
has also contributed to forums including the African Network
Operators Group (AFNOG), the African Top Level Domain
Association (AFTLD) as
well as the Arab, North African and African Internet
Governance Forums. Through
our involvement with these groups, we have supported the
growth of the local
industry and the development of an active professional
community within the
region.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>For example,
AFRINIC’s first
IPv6 training forum took place in Sudan and since then we have
had thirteen
(13) workshops in North Africa, a sub region that has 2
representatives elected
on AFRINIC’s board. AFRINIC also has part of its Disaster
Recovery based in
Egypt.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none"><font face="Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 11pt;" lang="EN-GB">We have
been particularly excited to contribute to the development of
forums including the Middle East Network Operators Group
(MENOG) and the newly
Middle East Peering Forum where most northern African
countries participate.
Through our involvement with these groups, we have supported
the growth of the local
industry and the development of an active professional
community within the
region.<o:p> <br>
</o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none"><font face="Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 11pt;" lang="EN-GB">RIRs are
community-governed organisations. If the multi-stakeholder
Internet community in the Arab community feels that there is a
need to
establish a new RIR both AFRINIC and RIPE will be happy to
support this
development appropriately. There are steps, via the open,
bottom-up policy
development process, to facilitate this. ICP-2, "Criteria for
Establishment of New Regional Internet Registries", is a
global policy,
approved through consensus by the communities from all the
existing RIRs, which
sets out this process: <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none"><font face="Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif"><a
href="http://www.icann.org/en/news/in-focus/global-addressing/new-rirs-criteria"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(20, 54, 165);"
lang="EN-GB">http://www.icann.org/en/news/in-focus/global-addressing/new-rirs-criteria</span></a><span
style="font-size: 11pt;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;" lang="EN-GB">This, like all RIR
policies, was the result of a “bottom-up" policy development,
based on the
premise that those who use Internet number resources and have
a stake in the
Internet, including actors from civil society, business, the
technical community,
government and law enforcement agencies (LEAs), should take
the lead in
developing policies relating to the management of those
resources. <br style="mso-special-character:line-break">
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none"><font face="Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 11pt;" lang="EN-GB">"Top-down"
policies developed without the participation of
those who operate the Internet carry the risk of significant
unintended
consequences for the Internet and its users. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none"><font face="Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 11pt;" lang="EN-GB">It is
vital that the Internet technical community has a voice in
deciding such an important issue. We encourage community
members to raise any
questions or issues on the AFRINIC mailing lists, or to email
AFRINIC directly
by replying to this email. We are also happy to assist anyone
wishing to raise
this issue at upcoming events such as MENOG 12 (5-14 March),
the AFRINIC mini
IG event in Tunisia in April or the AFRINIC meeting in Lusaka
9-21 June 2013. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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