[kictanet] The "ICANN Africa Strategy" Is Not the Same as the 'African Agenda'

[Gideon]

The "ICANN Africa Strategy" Is Not the Same as the 'African
Agenda'<http://www.circleid.com/posts/20121024_icann_africa_strategy_is_not_the_same_as_the_african_agenda/>

http://www.circleid.com/posts/20121024_icann_africa_strategy_is_not_the_same_as_the_african_agenda/

The ICANN-45 International meeting of the ICANN Global Community in
Toronto, Canada provided an opportunity for the unveiling of the initial
draft of the ICANN Africa Strategy, an episode that will always be
remembered as a landmark moment which signaled the official commencement of
ICANN's new approach to Africa. Indeed, a new chapter has started regarding
how ICANN will relate henceforth to Africa.

The ICANN Africa Strategy will increase Africa's visibility in ICANN, and
in turn, also project ICANN's visibility in Africa. Its implementation
should lead to the mainstreaming of the principal issues of concern to
Africa in ICANN's discourse.

*It is therefore important that the ICANN Africa Strategy is not
misrepresented in terms of its overall goals, and the type of strategic
impact it is supposed to engender in the short to medium term*.

However, just a few days after ICANN's meeting in Toronto, the Africa
Strategy is now being spun by some pundits and self-styled Africa watchers
into what it is not, thereby creating some general misconceptions. I
believe that such mischaracterizations of the ICANN Africa Strategy could
create widespread confusion and actually precipitate its failure. Such a
ridiculous fiasco resulting as an unintended consequence must be avoided at
all cost. *It is therefore necessary at this early stage to set the records
straight about what the ICANN Africa Strategy is not.*

*1. The "ICANN Africa Strategy" is different from the "African Agenda"*

The Africa Agenda *is a failed tactic that was employed by a group of
so-called 'African Internet Experts'* to impose their agenda on ICANN using
the political and diplomatic machinery of the African Union Commission,
whilst exploiting the auspices of the African Ministerial Round-Table that
met in Dakar, Senegal in October 2011 during ICANN-42. *It was essentially
the work of chicanery that failed. Twelve (12-points) were outlined as an
'African Agenda' that had presumably received the blessings of an African
Ministerial Round-Table and submitted to ICANN leaders in Dakar; with the
hope that ICANN would approve the imperious demands that were contained in
the 'African Agenda' as a fait accompli.* One of the most impossible
demands contained in the African Agenda was for ICANN to give special
treatment to the African Union, and reserve the .Africa (DotAfrica) name
and its representations in any other language in the List of Top-Level
Domain names; with the added proviso that the African Union would then
delegate the .Africa gTLD to a structure that it hoped to identify and
select. It was a very ridiculous demand, against the backdrop that the
Top-Level Names in the Reserved List (for example, AfriNIC, www, http,
etc.) were already specified in the approved version of the new gTLD
Applicant's Guidebook, and any extra-ordinary proposition to include
.Africa in the List, would have required an amendment to the new gTLD
Applicant's Guidebook.

*The inchoate plan was therefore defeated in Dakar, and with it, the
African Agenda.* In ICANN's official response to the AUC and the African
Ministerial Round-Table that came in March 2012, it was recommended to the
AUC to use both GAC Early Warning Advice and Community Objection to
influence the outcome of the .Africa new gTLD application process.

ICANN's response therefore made it clear that the only route to the
delegation of .Africa gTLD was through the new gTLD program and not *through
the imperious imposition of an African Agenda.* It must be emphasized that
the Africa Agenda was not consensus-driven, lacked multi-stakeholder input
and was never approved by ICANN. *The Africa Agenda actually failed at
Dakar.*

*2. The "ICANN African Strategy" is not related to the new gTLD Program*

*The ICANN African Strategy has nothing to do with the .Africa new
gTLD.*The objectives of the ICANN new gTLD program are quite clear as
a global,
fairly structured, rule-based, policy-driven, transparent and competitive
process under which new gTLDs will emerge, with a view to expanding the
Internet. *The Africa Strategy on the other hand is simply a strategic
planning process with multi-stakeholder inputs that is expected to guide
ICANN's engagement with Africa during the implementation period of the
ICANN Strategic Plan from July 2013 to June 2016.* Therefore, any viewpoint
that contrives to indicate that the ICANN African Strategy is somehow
connected to .Africa gTLD or to ICANN's new gTLD program is completely
fallacious, and should be debunked as incorrect and misleading.

As a matter of fact, during the comments collection process, the draft
Assessment report assembled by the ASWG had contained a reference to
.Africa new gTLD, based on some submission that was made by a respondent,
but this was seen as irrelevant, out-of-context and removed.

*3. An AUC-endorsed DotAfrica Application has nothing to with the Africa
Strategy*

A recent blog posting<http://www.circleid.com/posts/20121023_africa_at_icann_continent_on_the_move/>written
by Andrew Mack, a self-styled Africa watcher, had tried to suggest
that the DotAfrica application somehow has something to do with the ICANN
Africa Strategy. In his article he stated inter alia: *"You could also see
it in the tremendous enthusiasm for the AUC-endorsed dotAfrica (.africa)
application, which has become a real a (sic) focal point of an emerging
"African Agenda"*. Again, this is a very wrong assertion which is very
misleading. *Andrew Mack's confusion is rather palpable, by mixing-up the
new ICANN Africa Strategy with the previously failed African Agenda.*

The point has already been made that the "African Agenda" aimed to take the
DotAfrica new gTLD outside the oversight of ICANN's new gTLD program under
an opaque plan that would have enabled the African Union Commission (with
the 'guidance' of its Task Force on DotAfrica) to separately delegate the
.Africa gTLD to a structure that it had identified and selected based on a
flawed 'special treatment process'. Andrew Mack's recent posting was
therefore *in grave error by assuming that the AUC-endorsed dotAfrica
(.africa) application has become the focal point of an emerging "Africa
Agenda".* The African Agenda was generally seen as an illegitimate,
stage-managed scheme which never received any approval from ICANN. The AUC
had wanted to enjoy certain special legislative protections under the
African agenda, but this was denied by ICANN.

Finally, *it is important to clarify that the AUC is not part of the ICANN
Africa Strategy.* In truth, the AUC had tried to endorse a DotAfrica
(.Africa) Community TLD application for the African Community, but the
appointed applicant — UniForum did *not submit any application on behalf of
the African Community, and did not even acknowledge any 'African Community'
in its application for .Africa.*

Therefore *the notion of an AUC-endorsed DotAfrica application remains
nebulous and ill-defined.* Following the revelation that the .Africa
application by UniForum did not truthfully adhere to the terms of the
purported AUC-endorsement that it had received; to wit, that of applying on
behalf of the African Community, *Mr. Neil Duncan Dundas had made an open
admission on the AfrICANN Forum that he expects the AU, the African
Internet Communi*ty and ICANN to hold UniForum accountable for its
misleading application.

Therefore, until full accountability at the time of final reckoning, it is
a rather fantastic notion for Andrew Mack or anybody for that matter to
even remotely suggest that an *AUC-endorsed dotAfrica (.africa)
application, is becoming the focal point of an emerging "African Agenda".*

**

Gideon,

DotConnectAfrica

On Wed, Oct 24, 2012 at 12:00 PM, <kictanet-request at lists.kictanet.or.ke>wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. Africa at ICANN - Continent on the Move (Alice Munyua)
>    2. Toronto: DCA's Contribution to ICANN Africa Strategy and the
>       Multi-Stakeholder Model (Gideon)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2012 21:36:03 +0300
> From: Alice Munyua <alice at apc.org>
> To: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Subject: [kictanet] Africa at ICANN - Continent on the Move
> Message-ID: <5086E393.6050003 at apc.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; Format="flowed"
>
> Africa at ICANN - Continent on the Move
> <
> http://www.circleid.com/posts/20121023_africa_at_icann_continent_on_the_move/
> >
>
> http://www.circleid.com/posts/20121023_africa_at_icann_continent_on_the_move/
>
>
> <
> http://www.circleid.com/posts/20121023_africa_at_icann_continent_on_the_move/#add_comment
> >
>
> By *Andrew Mack* <http://www.circleid.com/members/4199/>
>
> There was one obvious take-away from this week's ICANN meetings in
> Toronto, and for once it was less about policy and more about geography.
> Simply put, Africa is really --- finally --- coming together at ICANN,
> with a new energy, new unity and lots of new participation from African
> participants. And from top to bottom, the ICANN community seems to be
> taking notice.
>
> The evidence was everywhere... You could see it in the large number of
> African participants from all over the continent, and in active African
> engagement in the GAC. You could see it in the statements from the ICANN
> CEO, Board Chair and constituency leaders who came to the release of the
> new Africa strategy and praised both the strategy and the strategy
> process --- inclusive, fast-moving and importantly, driven by African
> stakeholders at ICANN, not imposed from above. You could also see it in
> the tremendous enthusiasm for the AUC-endorsed dotAfrica (.africa)
> application, which has become a real a focal point of an emerging
> "African Agenda".
>
> Of course, the hard work is yet to be done.
>
> All sides need to follow through to turn the strategy into real impact,
> to make sure that ongoing outreach becomes a reality, not just happy
> talk. We need to make sure the .Africa application --- which has support
> from more than 40 countries (and counting) isn't slowed down by the new
> batching process or any other noise. Nobody in the end was in favor of
> digital archery, but the system did have one thing right --- a
> preference for geographic, community and IDN names. Prioritizing Latin
> American and African applications makes sense given the history of
> "outreach", the small number of applications from these regions and the
> reality of the internet's growth. We believe a new "draw" system without
> a focus on underserved regions would send the wrong signal to the
> international internet community. It wouldn't do justice to the good
> work already initiated with support from the CEO, and in the end, it
> would be bad for ICANN.
>
> As a long time Africa watcher at ICANN, I saw much to celebrate in
> Toronto. And I'd like to especially compliment new CEO Fadi Chehad? for
> creating the space for (and what seems like genuine interest in) the
> needs of the continent that has been underserved for so long. But while
> words are important, we're just getting started. Africa is showing that
> it is serious about playing a real, sustained role at ICANN. Hopefully,
> ICANN is serious as well.
>
> *By Andrew Mack <http://www.circleid.com/members/4199/>, Principal at
> AMGlobal Consulting*
>
>
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> Message: 2
> Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2012 09:44:13 +0300
> From: Gideon <gideonrop at gmail.com>
> To: kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Subject: [kictanet] Toronto: DCA's Contribution to ICANN Africa
>         Strategy and the Multi-Stakeholder Model
> Message-ID:
>         <CAP2ohHE8CCCZg-YH3kAuemzdKJZzaBeJjQTgibLAR_2w79p5=
> Q at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
>
> *Toronto: DCA's Contribution to ICANN
> Africa<
> http://www.circleid.com/posts/20121022_comments_by_dca_trust_on_the_icann_multi_stakeholder_model_africa/
> >
> Strategy and
> the Multi-Stakeholder
> Model<
> http://www.circleid.com/posts/20121022_comments_by_dca_trust_on_the_icann_multi_stakeholder_model_africa/
> >
> *
>
>
> http://www.circleid.com/posts/20121022_comments_by_dca_trust_on_the_icann_multi_stakeholder_model_africa/
>
> **
>
> *This is a complete unabridged version of the document by Ms. Sophia
> Bekele, Executive Director, DotConnectAfrica, titled: "General Comment on
> the ICANN Multi-Stakeholder Model & DCA's Contribution to the ICANN Africa
> Strategy". A shorter version was read out at the ICANN's Public Forum
> Meeting on Thursday, October 18, 2012 due to constraint of time.*
>
> * * *My name is Sophia Bekele, I am Executive Director, DotConnectAfrica.
>
> DCA Trust has been participating in the ICANN Global Community and
> attending the ICANN International Meetings regularly and actively within
> the past few years. DCA Trust is also a new gTLD applicant, and has
> submitted an application for the .Africa generic Top-Level Domain.
>
> This *ICANN-45 Meeting in Toronto has provided a landmark opportunity for
> the presentation of the initial draft of the ICANN Africa Strategy*. We are
> thankful for the increased attention that is now being given to Africa, in
> order to put it more firmly on the ICANN Global Map.
>
> ICANN thrives on its multi-stakeholder, transparent and consensus-based
> approach to policy development and implementation. *Meanwhile, the same
> multi-stakeholder approach is often criticized, but the critics of this
> model are unable to devise an alternative approach that could effectively
> replace the multi-stakeholder model*, and serve the global public interest
> on issues of Global Internet Governance. A global Internet requires that
> different stake-holders participate in its governance, and that a proper
> forum is provided for any interested party to participate ensure that such
> voices are heard. At the very minimum, the debate will be enriched based on
> democratic principles. *DCA will continue to support the multi-stakeholder
> concept, without needing to over-emphasize that in the absence of the
> multi-stakeholder model, DCA Trust, as a private, non-profit, non-partisan,
> independent organization will not have the opportunity to be heard in
> matters of Global Internet Governance and as an active participant in the
> global ICANN Community*.
>
> At the ICANN-44 Prague meeting, DCA Trust had been concerned that a
> preliminary meeting was held between some ICANN officials and certain
> group(s) of the African constituency at ICANN. DCA Trust was not invited to
> that meeting, for which reason we demonstrated our grievance by writing a
> letter to ICANN to protest our exclusion. *It later transpired that the
> meeting was to lay the initial framework for commencing the ICANN Africa
> Strategy, and we interpreted our apparent exclusion from participating in
> that meeting as a prelude to our non-involvement in the process of the
> ICANN Africa Strategy ? both in formulation and implementation*. We
> complained again based on multi-stakeholder principles. We strongly believe
> that all those participating as recognized constituents of the African
> Community at ICANN should be involved in any ICANN Africa Strategy. Even
> whilst maintaining that our initial complaints were valid, we also believe
> that all that is now in the past and that DCA Trust was able to make its
> point.
>
> Accordingly, in moving forward towards future and positive cooperative
> endeavors, *we are thankful to Mr. Tarek Kamel, the Senior Adviser to the
> ICANN President & CEO, who also has the primary responsibility for leading
> the formulation and implementation of the ICANN Africa Strategy*. Mr. Kamel
> has been gracious enough to meet with DCA Trust here in Toronto and discuss
> the framework under which DCA Trust will participate in the ICANN Africa
> Strategy. To this end, DCA Trust is pleased to announce that it has
> developed a new initiative ? the Internet Business Council for Africa
> (IBCA) ? that is aimed at increasing the African private sector
> participation at ICANN; to be implemented as a component part of the ICANN
> Africa Strategy.
>
> *The principal objective of this initiative is to help promote and increase
> the multi-stakeholder diversity at ICANN in line with the broader strategic
> objectives of the ICANN Strategic Plan* covering the three-year period that
> spans July 2013 to June 2016. We envision that the inclusion and early
> adoption of the proposed IBCA initiative as a key component of the ICANN
> Africa Strategy will strengthen ICANN's multi-stakeholder model; as the
> organization increases the visibility of its work and overall
> outreach/communication activities in Africa, and DCA Trust is proud to
> propose this as a strategic input that would enable it achieve further
> levels of cooperation with ICANN in the implementation of its Strategic
> Plan. The private sector is seen as the key driver of socio-economic
> transformation and enabler of economic growth in an emerging Africa,
> therefore, any initiative that attempts to increase the participation of
> this important business and non-governmental constituency in Global
> Internet Governance will no doubt strengthen the multi-stakeholder work of
> ICANN. DCA Trust has already submitted a copy of the IBCA proposal to ICANN
> through Mr. Tarek Kamel, and will also avail copies to the ICANN leaders.
>
> In closing, *DCA Trust is thankful for the opportunity afforded by this
> ICANN-45 Public Forum in Toronto to share its proposed IBCA initiative*.
>
> By DotConnectAfrica
>
> **
> * *
> * [image: DotConnectAfrica] <http://www.circleid.com/members/6624/>*
>
> DCA is a not-for-profit, non-partisan org incorporated in Mauritius Africa
> and will sponsor, establish and operate a TLD registry with global
> recognition and regional significance dedicated to the needs of Pan-African
> & African constituency. (Learn More <http://www.circleid.com/members/6624/
> >)
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