African ccTLDs hesitate to tap ICANN support

Misconception about the role of ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has kept many African country code Top Level Domains (ccTLD) from taking advantage of support from the organization, according to experts.

More than 50 percent of Africa's ccTLDs have not joined ICANN's Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) because of the perceived influence of the U.S. government, while others fear that joining the body would antagonize political leaders in their countries.

The ccNSO is the policy development body for global ccTLD issues within the ICANN structure.

"Some African ccTLDs have kept away from the ccNSO because of the whole controversy of the ICANN Joint Partnership Agreement with the U.S. government," said Vika Mpisane, president of Africa Top Level Domain Organization (AfTLD). "I get a sense there's a slowly growing discomfort amongst some African governments with the continuing U.S. oversight over ICANN."

"If governments are uncomfortable, ccTLD managers in those countries are unlikely to bother joining the ccNSO, because such a step may be seen in itself as legitimizing the U.S. oversight over ICANN. No ccTLD manager would want to be at loggerheads with its government," added Mpisane.

The debate was raised by Paulos Nyirenda, who has represented Malawi at ccNSO meetings.

"While there has been a lot of progress recently in getting new members into the ccNSO from Europe and the Asia Pacific region, applications from the Africa region have dried up of late, and we are still stuck at over 50 percent of the African ccTLDs still out of the ccNSO," said Nyirenda.

The majority of the ccTLDs in the region have not yet automated their registration systems, and their management structure is not very clear. Some are influenced by government officials, which may curtail independent decision-making, especially on international matters.

"There is a need to outreach some ccTLDs with a message that will encourage them to join; that is for those that have a business or management structure that allows such intervention," said Yassin Mshana, a former representative from Tanzania to the ccNSO.

The task of encouraging countries to participate in ICANN meetings has been taken over by AfTLD -- the organization of African ccTLD managers -- although Mpisane insists that the decision to join is left to the country.

"The outreach includes travel and accommodation fellowships to ccTLDs to attend ICANN meetings, including those that are not ccNSO members," added Mpisane.

However, there are ccTLDs that have either just finished the re-delegation process of their ccTLD or are going through it. For these countries, the primary task is setting up functioning and sustainable registries.

Mpisane has also identified a common misconception: Countries thought they have to sign ICANN's accountability framework before joining ccNSO.

While ICANN has worked with Africa's regional organizations such as AfTLD and AfriNIC to educate the community and involve them in global activities, governments are yet to identify the Internet as critical infrastructure that needs attention, investment and budgetary allocation.