Our reporting on networks, digital sovereignty and the decisions that shape the lives of people across Africa.
- AfriNIC: The February Case That Could End Africa’s Internet Registry
In February 2027, the Supreme Court of Mauritius is expected to take up Cloud Innovation’s petition to wind up AFRINIC. At stake is…
- Why has Cloud Innovation reappeared on AFRINIC’s register of members?
Cloud Innovation’s name appears again in a copy of AFRINIC’s Mauritian register dated October 28, 2026, following earlier assurances that a disputed entry…
- China’s Lu Heng Behind Most African Bids in ICANN’s New gTLD Round [Investigation]
When ICANN published the applications for its next expansion of Internet domain names on 7 October, Africa accounted for 16 of the 1,615…
- AFRINIC Bylaws Review: Why I Will Not Comment on the New Bylaws
In April 2026, AFRINIC opened a new Community Consultation on the Review of Bylaws and asked members to propose amendments that would, in…
- Dear Lu Heng, Africa Is Not a Digital Quarry
On 9 March 2026, AFRINIC’s public case list added another entry to a docket that long ago stopped looking like ordinary corporate litigation.…
- Skyconnect, Cloud Innovation, and the Long Proxy War Against Africa’s Internet Registry
The newest shot in the long courtroom war over Africa’s internet numbering resources did not come under the old and familiar banner. It…
- In Gabon, a new step for Internet governance in Africa
A national workshop in Libreville brings together Internet governance, data governance and artificial intelligence in a practical roadmap for Gabon.
- Africa should not become a proxy battlefield for a larger U.S.-China competition in digital infrastructure
A recent argument from Chinsese IP broker Lu Heng, one AFRINIC member says Internet number resources are merely operator-held assets and that Africa…
- Smart Africa, ICANN, CAIGA, AfriNIC: How the brouhaha exposes the politics of African digital sovereignty
History has a quiet way of judging us. It takes its time, and when it finally speaks, it never asks about our intentions.…
- Editor’s Note: When the House Still Stands, We Must Build Together
On the morning of 1 March 1896, the chill of dawn clung to the mountains of Adwa. Mist rolled over the valleys as…
- After years of paralysis, AfriNIC must prove it can govern itself
After three years of courtroom battles, annulled elections and frozen bank accounts, the African Network Information Centre (AfriNIC) has finally elected a new…
- AfriNIC Receiver’s Ties to Cloud Innovation Revealed to Financial Crimes Commission
On September 10, 2025, the day AfriNIC’s contested board election opened, former chairman Benjamin Adzenyamebeye Eshun walked into the Financial Crimes Commission at…
- An Open Letter to Mr Gowtamsingh Dabee, Receiver of AfriNIC
When I first read your curriculum vitae, I felt a moment of relief. At last, after years of drift, we thought someone with…
- How AfriNIC’s election became the latest trap in a legal playbook draining Africa’s RIR
A bruising legal war over Africa’s internet registry has frozen the allocation of millions of digital addresses and exposed the fragility of Mauritius’s…
- AfriNIC: Who is Who in the Proxy War over Mauritius’ Democracy?
The African Network Information Centre, better known as AfriNIC, was created to guarantee Africa’s fair share of internet resources. It was supposed to…
- AfriNIC is Africa’s and will remain under African control — the blueprint
When in 2005, Pierre Dandjinou, Professor Nii Quaynor, Adiel Akplogan, Pierre Ouédraogo, Dr Tarek Kamel and other pioneers of Africa’s Internet governance smiled…
- Normative capture and the illusion of digital sovereignty in Africa under big tech’s expanding role in security governance
Across the African continent, digital transformation has accelerated over the past decade, often framed as a promise of sovereignty, development, and inclusion. Yet…
- AfriNIC: A Soft-Spoken Judge Carries the Last Light in a Darkened Court
Justice Nicholas Ohsan Bellepeau is not the kind of judge who seeks headlines or shapes arguments with theatrical flair. He is no Johnnie…
- AfriNIC, the Liquidation That Wasn’t, and the Lessons from Diego Garcia
In the evening of July 18, a quiet notice appeared in the Government Gazette of Mauritius. It was not a headline. It was…
- Open Letter to Africans: AfriNIC is under siege, and this is our final battle
The notice appeared under the seal of the Supreme Court of Mauritius. Dated 9 July, it announced that a petition had been filed…
- AfriNIC: Hope, Hijack, and the Harsh Lessons of African Multistakeholderism
For those who have not followed the story, the African Network Information Centre better known as AfriNIC is the body responsible for distributing…