Anne-Rachel Inne, Africa's regional liaison ICANN was interviewed
during the Highway Africa conference in South Africa by Computerworld
Kenya. Inne says there are so few African countries participating in
ICANN activities because "people don't have the means to go to
international meetings", however this problem is not unique to Africa.
It's a problem of all African countries.
"Another issue may come from the nature of the organization -- ICANN is
not an intergovernmental [body], and government officials must receive
formal invitations and explain what ICANN is before they are allowed to
go."
Inne is also asked why business appears not to be interested. She says
"maybe just because they ignore the benefits of participating" and that
possibly those who could be interested come from the mobile phone
industry, and ICANN doesn't come to mind when they go to conferences.
Lastly Inne is asked about criticisms of ICANN "for not helping in the
redelegation of their" ccTLD and whether "ICANN tried its best?" Inne
says this comes about because "there is a lot of confusion over what
ICANN can do or can't do." She concurs "with a recent view by Vika
Mpisane, [of the] Africa TLD organization, who noted that half of
African ccTLDs are having issues. They are not being run properly
because of administrative and technical management issues or internal
fights on who has the right to oversee the TLD."
To read this Computerworld Kenya report in full, see:
www.infoworld.com/t/internet/africas-liaison-icann-outreach-under-way-073