Fadi Chehadé, president of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), has announced plans to have six new ICANN representatives on the African continent.
Chehadé said he intends to increase the continent’s participation in internet governance, with there currently being only five accredited Domain Registrars in Africa.
There are more than one thousand Domain Registrars worldwide.
“I want African on-ramps into the ICANN structures. I will give you the on-ramps, but you need to climb them,” Chehadé said. “This is about us moving the needle forward. Africa will not wait.
The ICANN President was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, when he made the statements, attending the Africa Multi-stakeholder Internet Governance meeting that ended last week Friday.
“ICANN used to say if you want to participate in internet governance come to ICANN,” he said. “We’ve changed that, now ICANN is coming to the stakeholders. We’re not waiting for you to come. We’re coming to you.
“We will have ICANN staff, at least one, in each of the 6 regions of Africa. North, South, East, West, Central and the Indian Ocean.”
