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Re: .africa gTLD

On Jan. 19, 1997, Mark J Elkins wrote:
> 
> Unfortunately, traffic between these countries will be via the USA -
> politics (and trust) between them is interesting!  Hence - an
> '.africa' TLD is probably not such a hot idea..

That assessment is based on the assumption that States and Countries are
two interchangeable entities. That may not be the case any longer in
Africa. 
The post-colonial African State, in general, has spared no effort to
weaken its legitimacy and erode the trust of its citizenry, namely
grassroots communities of peasants. Such communities have suffered from
monopolistic policies, divide and rule methods, routine oppression, or
worse, criminal plans. Case in point: Rwanda, where political demagogues
master-minded the genocide of 1995. Nowadays, the distrust between State
and civil society runs high, and the disjuction between them somewhat
deepens. A positive note, however, plural democracy is making real
progress, freedom of expression is gaining ground... But there is a need
for continued support for the forces of African renewal. The Internet
community could help by building a 'checks and balance' system giving
equal stakes to the State and the private sector in the Domain name
space business. 

My proposal for .africa gTLD stems precisely from:

a) the need to bring competitivity in the management of the Domain Name
space in Africa, putting an end to state monopoly on country TLDs;

b) the necessity to lessen dependency on politicians and bureaucracies,
who specifically in Rwanda, Liberia, Somalia, and maybe four or five
other countries, deserve the label "morally repugnant elites" coined to
chastise the irresponsible behavior of ruling groups, preoccupied only
with lining up their pockets, fattening their bank accounts and
extending their political longevity.

However, out of a dozen (at most) troubled spots in Africa, one should
not draw the conclusion that a .africa gTLD is not a hot idea (no pun
intended)
In actuality, the .africa gTLD could encourage initiatives and sustain
efforts aimed at achieving old dreams of political, economic, and
cultural unity in Africa.

Take African geo-politics, first.
 
Today's African political landscape was carved out at the 1885 Berlin
conference, where European colonial powers traded their recently
conquered territories on the continent. As a result of their dealings, a
map of Africa was drawn up, lumping together creating giant entities
next to tiny enclaves, neither cohesive nor homogeneous. In the early
60s, leaders of newly independent African states agreed to keep the
boundaries inherited from the European colonizers. However, ever since
Africans have realized that they must unite and consolidate their human
and natural resources in order to achieve economic and social
development. That was the drive behind the foundation of the
Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1963. Today, the OAU groups all
54 African countries. No one knows the outcome of a redrawing, through
peaceful or forceful means, of the African political map. Eritrea has
successfully fought and claimed back its autonomy and sovereignty from
Ethiopia. Zaire may split into new states... But the need will always be
there for a continental political umbrella. Hence, the OAU could build a
Domain name oau.africa for a virtual Africa, reflecting more readily the
changes ahead. 

Also there could be domain names for each of the OAU's agencies.
Exemple:

celhto.africa (a group of four Centers for linguistic and historical 
		studies through oral tradition, created by the OAU)
................	

Besides the OAU let's mention among others

aas.africa (African & African-American Summit)

- On a broader front, charter organizations such as the United nations,
NGOs and PVOs (environment, agriculture, community development, health,
etc.) operating in more than one African country could use the .africa
gTLD to run their operations more effectively. Thus we could have

un.africa
undp.africa
unesco.africa
unicef.africa
eca.africa
who.africa
fao.africa
unfpa.africa
vita.africa
..............

- regional organizations
ecowas.africa	(Economic Community of West African States)
sadec.africa (Southern Africa Development Community)
uma.africa (Union du Maghreb Arab)
ueac.africa (Union des Etats de l'Afrique Centrale)
ocam.africa (Organisation Commune Africaine et Malgache)
ceao.africa (Communaute des Etats d'Afrique Occidentale)
............

- banks and insurance companies
world-bank.africa
imf.africa
adb.africa 
	(African Development Bank), which would be different from, say,
adb.asia (Asian Development Bank) or adb.america (American Development
Bank)

bceao.africa (Banque centrale des Etats de l'Afrique de l'Ouest)
biao.africa
....................	

- On the economic and business front, multinational firms with
continental presence or expansion plans in Africa could use .africa gTLD
to run their intranets. For instance, last year IBM, became, to my
knowledge the first large US company to spend $100 million to build an
African regional office in Tunis Big Blue could operate the ibm.africa
domain name. Others industries and companies could follow suit.
	
	- airlines
		sita.africa
		iata.africa
		air-afrique.africa
		air-france.africa
		klm.africa
		sabena.africa
		................ 
	
	- oil companies
		shell.africa
		bp.africa
		elf.africa
		texaco.africa
		................
		
	- freight and shipping companies, car rental
		dhl.africa
		avis.africa
		................. 	
	
	- automobile companies
	- lumber companies
	- mining companies
	......................	
	
- On the cultural scene
Domain names could be registered to bring the other Africa into
cyberspace, I mean the Africa of the grassroots, rural, ethnolinguistic
communities, who do not speak European languages, and therefore have
little or no say in public affairs; 

		achanti.africa
		akan.africa
		arab.africa
		bantu.africa
		baule.africa
		benin.africa
		buganda.africa
		ga.africa
		hausa.africa
		igbo.africa
		kikuyu.africa
		luba.africa
		mande.africa
		monre.africa
		pulaaku.africa
		serer.africa
		swahili.africa
		swazi.africa
		yoruba.africa
		wolof.africa
		zulu.africa
		
	- African religions
		catholic.africa
		protestant.africa
		islam.africa
		kimbangu.africa
		..................	
			
	- past African states and civilizations
		axum.africa
		carthage.africa
		almorabid.africa
		ghana.africa
		mali.africa
		songhay.africa
		zambe.africa
		...................
		
- Musical, danses genres and traditions
makosa.africa
mbalax.africa
kwela.africa
yele.africa
.............

- Education, research institutions, think-tank, foundations
aau.africa	(Association of African Universities)
codesria.africa
louis-pasteur.africa
schweitzer.africa
rockefeller.africa
ford.africa

- In sports
caf.africa (African football confederation
.................

> 
> Now the person who has aquired the 'rw' TLD should perhaps return it to> Rwanda?
> 

This plea touches on a most sensitive aspect of country TLDs management
in Africa. The IAHC reports recognizes that country TLDs fall under the
responsibility of sovereign nations. Unfortunately that sovereignty
suffers for from neglect from a number of African governments. As a
result, country TLDs have been hijacked by foreign UNIX gurus. Instead
of building standard servers at home, authorities hire foreign
consultants to manage remotely their domain name. Just do WHOIS queries
and you will find out. Some African countries TLDs have not even been
registered yet. Others do not have their own IP Address(es). Others have
IP addresses but are run as simple directories on foreign servers. 
The generic TLD .africa could provide NIC services (training and
support) to African country TLDs managers in Africa, based on
professional standards and guidelines.


- Tierno S. Bah
AfriQ*Access, Inc.