Why African internet communities must have a voice in governance

Why African internet communities must have a voice in governance is profiled by BTW Media because public-source evidence links it to internet infrastructure, governance, operational dependencies, or market visibility.

• AFRINIC’s governance failures have triggered a constitutional crisis in Mauritius as the government attempts to overrule the courts.
• African communities risk losing their bottom-up voice in internet governance as ICANN seeks to centralise power.

AFRINIC collapse triggers constitutional crisis in Mauritius

AFRINIC, the African Network Information Centre, was once tasked with stewarding the continent’s critical IP resources. Instead, it has become a failed registry, consumed by years of corruption, governance breakdown and unworkable election standards. The annulment of the June 23 election over a single proxy dispute—discarding valid votes in the process—illustrates how trust has been eroded to the point of collapse.

The crisis deepened when the Mauritian government intervened directly, declaring AFRINIC a “declared company” under the Companies Act. This action suspended existing lawsuits, blocked new ones, and installed a government-mandated investigator. In effect, the executive sought to bypass and override the judiciary—a move that legal experts and civil society warn amounts to a constitutional crisis for Mauritius.

Meanwhile, ICANN has tried to exploit the chaos, pushing the ICP-2 compliance document without proper multistakeholder process. This “quiet power grab” grants ICANN the ability to derecognise regional internet registries at will, effectively allowing it to decide who governs Africa’s internet. Its recent backtracking on threats to derecognise AFRINIC is less a sign of restraint and more a shift in tactics.

Also read: 5 people destroying AFRINIC and turning Mauritius into an anarchy
Also read: Constitutional tensions in Mauritius as AFRINIC flounders

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The collapse of AFRINIC leaves Africa’s internet resources in jeopardy. Without a credible registry, the continent’s connectivity, economic growth, and digital sovereignty are at risk. Yet the solution cannot be dictated by ICANN’s global agenda or by political manoeuvring in Port Louis.

The voice of African internet communities must be central. Bottom-up governance has long been the cornerstone of the internet’s legitimacy. Allowing ICANN to “pick AFRINIC’s leaders” or letting Mauritian politics dictate outcomes would undermine this principle entirely.

Cloud Innovation, AFRINIC’s third-largest member, has called for a necessary reset: the dissolution of the failed registry and the immediate creation of a successor RIR that reflects the needs of African stakeholders. This demand is not about corporate interest—it is about ensuring that Africa retains ownership of its digital future.

If Africa’s communities do not speak up now, they risk being silenced by a failed registry, an overreaching ICANN, and a government willing to overrule its own courts. Governance of Africa’s internet must return to where it belongs: in the hands of its people.