COMMUNIQUE: The Africa Union Commission Clarification on Dot Africa

The Africa Union Commission Clarification on Dot Africa

Addis Ababa, 12 May 2011- It has come to the attention of the African Union Commission that an organization calling itself DCA is claiming that it has the support of the Commission to bid for the Dot Africa strings.

The African Union Commission would like to bring the following clarifications on the matter of the bid for authority and mandate over the use of dot Africa domain name.

The AU Commission was at some point approached by an organization now known as DCA seeking endorsement and support for in its bid to use of the domain name. The Commission, while appreciating all individual initiatives presented the matter to Member States, forguidance. The Member States meeting within the framework of the Conference of African Union Ministers in Charge of Communications and Information Technologies decided to allow competition from any African organization or entity that would be interested in bidding for the domain name on behalf of and for the use of the African organizations and citizens at large. This decision was endorsed by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government in 2010 and again reiterated in 2011.

The AU Commission would like to hereby categorically state that it is not supporting any one individual or organization in this bid.

The African Union position is that the bid in question should lead to the selection of a firm to represent the interests of Africa on the domain name space, in fulfillment of the decisions and declarations of the AU Policy Organs. These decisions charge the Commission with the responsibility to "Establish Dot Africa as a continental Top-Level Domain for use by organizations, businesses and individuals with guidance from African Internet agencies". The Heads of State and Government also requested the Commission to “Set up the structure and modalities for the Implementation of the Dot Africa project.’’

The Commission is currently pursuing an open and transparent procedure to guarantee the selection of a registry to act on behalf of the African community. Parties interested in managing the Dot Africa registry are advised to apply to the AUC Call for Expression of Interest (EoI) which will be the sole mechanism for selecting and endorsing prospective companies, groups or individuals, prior to the launch of the ICANN new gTLD program. All relevant information and forms will be made available at (www.africa-union.org).

The deadline for submission of applications is set for June 3^rd 2011.

The African Union Commission will release the names of the winners through appropriate channels

The African Union Commission takes this opportunity to again to assure the people and governments of Africa of its commitment to a transparent and accountable process in the selection of the winning candidate to act for and on behalf of the continent on the matter of dot Africa.