Workshop led by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in collaboration with the Communications Authority of Kenya will explore ways to increase African Government Participation in ICANN and Policy Development.

24 January 2017 - Nairobi. AFRINIC has sent representatives to Kenya to take part in the ICANN/Communications Authority of Kenya’s Workshop for the Africa Government Advisory Committee. The workshop, themed “Harnessing the Potential of the Africa GAC Members for better Participation in ICANN”, is being held from 23-24 January 2017. The GAC provides advice to ICANN on issues of public policy and provides insight into instances where there may be an interaction between ICANN's activities or policies and national laws or international agreements within in the region.

“Governments are an integral part of the Internet industry and AFRINIC welcomes this opportunity to interact with African government representatives who are active in Internet governance,” comments Alan Barrett, CEO AFRINIC. “As Africa's supply of unused IPv4 addresses continues to run out, it is now more important than ever that governments, policy makers, business leaders and network operators come together to ensure that the African Internet continues to be developed in the most effective way. This includes the adoption of IPv6 and the increased use of Internet exchange points.”

This is the first regional workshop organised by ICANN’s recently established Nairobi Engagement Office. Joseph Mucheru, Cabinet Secretary Ministry of ICT – Republic of Kenya, opened the event, which was also addressed by Barrister Adebayo Shittu, Minister of ICT, Nigeria, Göran Marby, ICANN President & CEO, Thomas Schneider, GAC Chair, and Alice Munyua, co-chair of the GAC Under-served Regions working group, are also in attendance alongside the regional ICANN team, government representatives and community members.
While in Kenya, the AFRINIC team will also meet with representatives from the Ministry of ICT and other high level stakeholders in preparation for the upcoming Africa Internet Summit 2017 (AIS’17), which will be held in Nairobi from 21 May – 2 June 2017. The AIS is an annual, regional, multi-stakeholder ICT conference. It is the pinnacle educational and business ICT event in Africa where key players in the Internet industry interact with the global Internet community.

“The Africa GAC Workshop enables AFRINIC to talk directly with key government representatives to explain how policy development works in terms of Internet number resource distribution in Africa and beyond,” continues Mr. Barrett. “We have also been able to note that government participation in the AFRINIC policy development process is crucial and have extended a warm invitation to all participants in the GAC Workshop to attend the upcoming AIS’17, which is being organised by AFRINIC and The African Network Operators’ Group (AfNOG) and hosted by Tespok. 

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More Information

About the Africa Internet Summit (AIS):

The Africa Internet Summit (AIS) is an annual, regional, multi-stakeholder ICT conference. It is the pinnacle educational and business ICT event in Africa where key players in the Internet industry can interact with the global Internet community. Launched in The Gambia in 2012, the Summit consists of seminars, workshops, tutorials, conference sessions, birds-of-a-feather (BOFs), and other forums for sharing ICT knowledge within the African region. The Summit aims to bring the ICT business and technical community in Africa together under one roof to discuss ICT issues and challenges | www.internetsummitafrica.org

About ICANN’s Government Advisory Committee

The GAC is an advisory committee to ICANN, created under the ICANN ByLaws. It provides advice to ICANN on public policy aspects of ICANN’s responsibilities with regard to the Internet Domain Name System (DNS). The GAC is not a decision-making body. It advises ICANN on issues that are within ICANN’s scope | https://gacweb.icann.org

As a result of the Elections for Board seats that took place on 1 June 2017 during the Annual General Members' Meeting (AGMM) in Nairobi, we are pleased to announce the appointment of the following candidates to the AFRINIC Board:

Indian Ocean

- Subramanian Moonesamy (Mauritius) 

Central Region

- Christian Bope (DRC Congo)

Region: Independent

• Serge Illunga (DRC Congo)

The vote counts were as follows:

Indian Ocean region

Subramanien Moonesamy - 84

Krishna Seeburn - 72

Kaleem Ahmed Usmani - 5

Lala Andriamampianina - 19

Central Africa region

- Ngnoulaye Janvier - 71

- Bope Domilongo Christian - 104 

Region Independent

- Andrew Alston - 90

- Daniel Yakmut - 2

- Serge Ilunga Kabwika - 93

The new Board members will serve for a term of three years from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2020. We congratulate the new Board Members and wish them success in their new roles. 

Additionally, an election was held on Wednesday 31 May for one PDWG co-chair position, and Dewole Ajao from Nigeria was re-elected to serve a two-year term (until June 2019) during the Policy Development Working Group meeting. 

The Governance Committee election re-elected Abdalla Omari (100 votes) for a three-year term.

An election to elect the AFRINIC region representative to the ASO-AC / NRO-NC was also held on Thursday 1 June and Noah Maina was elected to serve a 3-year term from January 2018 to December 2020, replacing Douglas Onyango whose term will be ending at the end of 2017.

The vote counts were as follows:

- Maina Noah - 135

- Mark Elkins - 26 

We would like to thank all the candidates who stood for the various positions, as well as all the outgoing individuals. Their interest to serve the community is highly appreciated.

2 June 2017 Nairobi, Kenya - The Af* organizations, comprised of AFRINIC, AFTLD, AFNOG, AFREN, Africa CERT, and ISOC Africa, gathered at the 5th African Internet Summit, in Nairobi, Kenya, 21 May – 2 June 2017, issue the following statement: 

We are CONCERNED by the increasing number of Internet shutdowns ordered by Governments in Africa. Internet shutdowns are intentional disruptions of Internet or electronic communications, rendering them inaccessible or effectively unusable, for a specific population or within a location for specified or unspecified periods of time. African territories accounted for many of the 56 Internet shutdowns recorded globally in 2016. 

We are OPPOSED to any form of Internet shutdowns, including those that impact social media sites, entire networks, intentional disruption of Internet or mobile application services access, in any context such as elections, demonstrations or social tensions. Shutdowns offer poor solutions to complex problems and have shown to generate collateral damages on society and the economy. Intentional disruptions of access to information were unequivocally condemned by the UN Human Rights Council in 2016.

We would like to DRAW ATTENTION TO the negative effects of Internet shutdowns Not only do they impact the rights of citizens (e.g. expression, association, access to knowledge and education) recognized both in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, they also impact businesses and entrepreneurs. Various studies have highlighted the high costs of Internet shutdowns on country’s GDPs. In a context where economic growth relies increasingly on Internet access, as reaffirmed in the UN Sustainable Development Agenda, shutdowns can generate long-lasting and costly effects on society and on user trust. 

We DO NOT THINK that the Anti-shutdown policy proposal put forward by some members of the AFRINIC community will offer a sustainable solution to this issue. While we share the same concerns as theproposals authors and welcome the community dialogue this has generated, we think this proposed policy will likely be ineffective and could create unintended damages. 

We are CONCERNED that such a proposal would be difficult to implement, and would take AFRINIC beyond its technical mandate and expertise, as highlighted by AFRINIC staff’s assessment of the proposal. We are also concerned that this proposal might antagonize governments in a way that will worsen the situation as a whole. Finally, the proposal might also impact citizen’s ability to access the Internet beyond the government entities targeted by the proposal. 

Instead, we are CALLING on African governments to renounce the use of Internet shutdowns as a policy tool, and to engage in meaningful dialogue with stakeholders. We UNDERSTAND that governments have legitimate concerns related to Internet use and that they have obligations related to national security and public order.

In the spirit of the WSIS Tunis Agenda, the Af* are available to WORK with African governments and other stakeholders to find better solutions that do not hurt the fundamental rights of citizens and that protect the Internet’s stability, resilience and openness. 

AFRINIC 26 Public Policy Meeting Minutes is now published here

23 June 2017 - We are pleased to inform that the Board has re-elected Mr Sunday Folayan and Mr Haitham El Nakhal as Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively, for a period of 1 year terms.

The Board Standing Committees have been reconstituted as follows;

Remuneration Committee

• Lucky Masilela
• Sunday Folayan
• Serge Ilunga
• Alan Barrett

Finance Committee

• Haitham El Nakhal
• Subramanian Moonesamy
• Alan Barrett

Audit Committee

• Christian Bope
• Abibu Ntahigiye
• Seun Ojedeji

July 4 2017 - AFRINIC is announcing the call for applications for the 2017 FIRE Africa Innovation Grants and Awards.

This year, the available types of Grants and Awards are:

• The FIRE Africa Grants which provides two Grants of USD12,500 and USD10,000 respectively.
• The FIRE Africa Awards which provides three Awards of USD3,000. The FIRE Award consists of a USD 3,000 cash prize plus full travel and accommodation for one representative of each project to attend the awards ceremony, and participate in sessions which will be held in Switzerland during the 2017 Internet Governance Forum.

The application deadline for the 2017 Awards and Grants is 31^st July 2017, 23:59 UTC.

For detailed information about competition categories, conditions of entry, and submission procedures, please visit www.fireafrica.org or send us an email at:fireprogram[at]afrinic.net.

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Subventions et prix FIRE Africa 2017: Appel à candidatures

AFRINIC annonce l'appel à candidatures pour son programme de subventions et le prix FIRE Africa Innovation 2017.

Cette année, les types de subventions et les prix disponibles sont les suivants:

• Les subventions FIRE Africa qui fournissent deux subventions de USD12,500 et USD10,000, respectivement.
• Les prix FIRE Africa qui offrent trois prix de USD3,000. Le prix FIRE comprend un prix en espèces de 3,000 USD plus un voyage complet et un hébergement pour un représentant de chaque projet pour assister à la cérémonie de remise des prix et participer aux sessions qui se tiendront en Suisse lors du Forum sur la gouvernance de l'Internet de 2017.

La date limite d'inscription pour les prix et subventions 2017 a été fixée pour le 31 juillet 2017, 23:59 UTC.

Pour plus d'informations sur les différentes catégories, les conditions d'entrée et les procédures de soumission, merci de visiter www.fireafrica.org ou envoyez-nous un courriel à:fireprogram[at]afrinic.net.