- Judge Nicholas Ohsan Bellepeau has withdrawn as Inspector of AFRINIC, after Cloud Innovation Ltd challenged his appointment on conflict-of-interest grounds, halting his mandate and prompting his resignation to protect judicial integrity
- His exit deepens AFRINIC’s governance crisis, already marked by receivership, a cancelled 2025 board election, and growing calls for the registry’s dissolution, raising fears of ICANN intervention and erosion of Africa’s digital sovereignty.
In a stunning legal turn, Judge Nicholas Ohsan Bellepeau, appointed just last month as Inspector to scrutinize the embattled AFRINIC Ltd, currently under court receivership, has formally withdrawn from his role, citing conflicts of interest.
As reported by Defimedia.info, the judge’s resignation, delivered via his legal team on August 20, 2025, before Judge Azam Neerooa, scuppers an attempt by the government to investigate AFRINIC, and adds more fuel to the criticism that influential stakeholders in the AFRINIC affair are attempting to interfere in the crisis through means that stretch outside of legal bounds.
Judge Bellepeau’s team, led by Senior Counsels Robin Ramburn, Yanilla Moonshiram, Ali Hajee Abdoula, and attorney Preetam Chuttoo, declared that while the judge had disclosed his prior involvement in three cases involving Cloud Innovation and AFRINIC at the time of appointment, his independence remained untainted. After his appointment the Supreme Court of Mauritius served him with an injunction freezing his mandate, making the mission untenable. With Bellepeau offering his resignation, the case is now slated to proceed on August 26, 2025.
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AFRINIC’s governance catastrophe
Judge Bellepeau’s withdrawal arrives against a backdrop of deepening chaos within AFRINIC, Africa’s custodian of IP addresses, a saga exposing systemic breakdowns in institutional trust, democratic norms, and regional digital sovereignty.
AFRINIC has been without a board or CEO for several years, operating under a court-appointed receiver. This centralised control and sidelined its community governance.
In June 2025, a much-awaited board election was cancelled over a single contested proxy vote, sparking uproar as hundreds of valid ballots were discarded. This shattered member confidence and signalled a deeper collapse in the democratic process at the heart of AFRINIC.
Cloud Innovation, AFRINIC’s third-largest member, stepped in to try to hoist the organisation into more democratic and capable hands by demanding AFRINIC’s dissolution. It urged that an existing Regional Internet Registry (RIR) should take over AFRINIC’s duties to safeguard Africa’s internet governance.
This governance meltdown did not go unnoticed. ICANN, via its ICP-2 framework, signalled it might intervene or even de-recognise AFRINIC should reforms fail—raising alarms about encroaching external influence undermining regional autonomy.
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A constitutional test in Mauritius
Beyond institutional failure, the AFRINIC crisis now tests democratic resilience in Mauritius, the host nation. It raises urgent questions about how political, legal, and judicial institutions can, or should, intervene to protect digital rights and regional governance from collapse.
Judge Bellepeau’s appointment as Inspector was an attempt by the government of Mauritius to sidestep the judiciary amid the escalating crisis. As one observer put it, his measured reputation offered hope that legal honesty could pierce through institutional fatigue.
His withdrawal suggests that even the integrity of the judiciary may be insufficient to overcome mounting procedural paralysis, external legal assaults, and contested authority.
His exit not only delays a court-mandated investigation, it underscores AFRINIC’s governance crisis, threatening the continent’s claim to democratic stewardship over its own digital infrastructure.
