[kictanet] African Union latest on .africa

[Nnenna Nwakanma]

Hi people

>
> On Fri, May 13, 2011 at 6:31 PM, Norman Boinett <nboinett at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I listened to DotConnectAfrica pitch a presentation on its efforts to
>> register the dot africa domain at the AITEC conference held in Nairobi last
>> year.
>
> I can try to answer your questions.  I was on that panel (if it was
> the same AITEC mtg).
>
>  I don't know if? AU picked on the endorsement issue following the
>> realization of the importance of the TLD and its political, social and
>> economic implications or its has been keen on it all the way. I am not sure
>> about the level of participation of the AU in past and present IG issues and
>> the part they play in internet governance matters
> Well in this particular matter the ICANN DAG (the rules for new gTLDs)
> say that if you are applying for a name that represents a continent,
> you need 60% approval from governments in that region (i am
> paraphrasing).  Both orgs that want to be the Sponsoring organisation
> have sought approval from the AU in the past.
I think Moctar within the new Information Society Division of the AU  
will be the best to answer this.  Last week the Ghanian Vice  
Presidency seemed to imply that the AU will hold the .africa on Trust  
and ensure that the operator will do so on behalf of the African  
people.  Moctar, though, can update us
>  Can someone please
>> enlighten us on some of these issues;
>> 1. what the AU has done on African Internet governance processes in the
>> recent past and its implications on the internet governance community
>
>
> They have helped to jump start a pan-African IGF recently. Announced
> on this list in the last month.  I don't know if there any
> implications of this frankly.  Its just one more conference to attend
> on limited travel budgets IMO.
The Pan-Africa IGF is not yet started.  It is not a conference also.   
It is an initiative to engage actors (Pan African and multinational)  
who have not found a niche in the regional initiatives.  Its main  
objective may be to strengthen national IG initiatives.  It may not  
need to host a pan-African event.

An open forum has been booked for the Nairobi IGF so all interested  
parties can take the discussion further. The framework document is  
open and everyone is welcome to edit and contribute.

It is on http://bit.ly/dKdUKe
>> 2. Who should be most responsible for the registration and management of the
>> dot africa TLD, organizations like DotConnectAfrica, AU or the Africa
>> Intenet Governance Forum (if it exists)?
>
> There are many roles to play here.  The AU, as the relevant public
> authority may have "sovereignty" over the name "africa" according to
> my reading of the DAG.  They can choose on or more (or zero) orgs to
> be the Supporting Organisation.  These orgs would run the Registry.
> Then there is the back-end registry operator, which I would like to
> see go to an all African org.  Then there are Registrars, of which
> there are 4 (ICANN accredited) in Africa.   It is unclear if
> registrars like Versign/GoDaddy, etc would be allowed to be registrars
> for a .africa.
>
> The nascent African IGF would have nothing to do with .africa IMO, as
> it is a discussion forum only, hasn't really been formed yet, and has
> no decision making authority.
Co-sign.  The AU has a kind of panel of experts.  One or two should be  
on this list.  The Africa IGF is being modeled after the IGF  
Secretariat.. so I doubt it will (whenever it kicks off) be saddled  
with issues related to the management of .africa.
> I hope this answers your query.

Hope I have been helpful

Nnenna


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