- CAIGA would create a political, regulator-driven structure overseeing AFRINIC and other governance functions.
- Digital sovereignty is gaining traction, but could introduce geopolitical pressure and instability into Africa’s technical systems.
What is CAIGA? Inside Smart Africa’s proposal
The Continental Africa Internet Governance Architecture (CAIGA) is Smart Africa’s proposed framework to centralise and coordinate how African governments participate in internet governance. Although still conceptual, CAIGA is framed as a continental blueprint for managing IP resources, digital infrastructure, cybersecurity and regulatory harmonisation.
But critics warn that CAIGA places AFRINIC — historically a bottom-up, community-driven Regional Internet Registry — under a political council dominated by ministers and regulators, risking a repeat of the governance instability that weakened AFRINIC.
Also Read: ICANN, Cloud Innovation & the limits of legal mandates in Africa’s RIR
Also Read: ICANN or ICan’t? CEO Lindqvist chooses dictatorship over democracy in AFRINIC
Digital sovereignty and its impact on Africa’s internet ecosystem
Digital sovereignty has become a common theme in African policy debates. It broadly refers to a state or region asserting control over digital infrastructure, data flows, and online platforms.
Applied carefully, digital sovereignty can strengthen domestic digital industries and ensure African interests are represented globally. Applied aggressively, it risks fragmenting the internet, politicising technical processes, and introducing cross-border tensions.
CAIGA sits at the centre of this debate. While it promises coordinated leadership, it may also centralise political power at the expense of the technical communities that actually run networks across the continent.
