"A Successful AfriNIC-12 and a Memorable Celebration of
AfriNIC`s 5th Year of Operation"

The African Network Information Center (AfriNIC), held its 12th Public Policy Meeting, 2-3 June 2010 at the Serena Hotel, Kigali, Rwanda, with an occasion to celebrate its 5th Year of successful Operations since its accreditation as the 5th Regional Internet Registry. The meeting opened with 170 delegates from more than 40 countries in Africa and other parts of the world. The keynote address given by the Honorable Dr. Ignace Gatare, Rwanda Minister of ICT, set the scene by listing the challenges that the region faces in terms Internet development and the important role that all stakeholders must play.

The first day of the AfriNIC-12 meeting closed with a panel discussion on what should be AfriNIC’s orientation in the coming years, with panelists who were involved in the initial planning phases of AfriNIC, including a distinguished guest, Mr. Vinton Cerf, VP and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google and who also known as one of the "Fathers of the Internet."

The major outcomes of the Public Policy Discussions were the acceptance of two policy proposals: the IPv4 Softlanding and the Policy Development on the AfriNIC Service Region (to revise the current Policy Development Process) with a few amendments required for both proposals and the review of the Policy Development Process. However, the Abuse Contact Information Policy Proposal did not have consensus for acceptance and will therefore be returned to the community for further discussion. Other key presentations and discussions during the meeting included Internet Security, use of IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version 6) based network in the healthcare industry, AfriNIC`s project to deploy a Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI) in the African Region, the discussion to organise an African Body to coordinate the setup of CERT in the region, and updates from other Internet Governing bodies such as Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and the Number Resource Organisation (NRO). "This is one of the most vibrant AfriNIC meetings since its setup and it clearly shows how the community is becoming more knowledgeable about Internet development and policy related issues in our region" says Adiel Akplogan the CEO of AfriNIC.

The AfriNIC Board Elections was also held during the meeting to allow members to vote on the appointment of four new Board members. The winners were: Kaled Koubaa and Nezar Sami for the North Africa Region and Maimouna Diop and Alioune B. Traore from the West Africa Region.

The event was held jointly with the African Network Operators Group (AfNOG), the African Research and Education Network (AfREN), the African-Asian Forum (AAF), the AfriNIC Government Working Group (AfGWG) and the Internet Society (ISOC). Therefore, many workshops and tutorials preceded the AfriNIC-12 meeting, including AfriNIC's IPv6 and Number Resource Management Training workshops.

During the social dinner and in celebration of its 5th Year of Operation, AfriNIC held an Awards Ceremony where corporate awards were given to key supporters of AfriNIC. There was also an AfriNIC Football Tournament and the jerseys and trainers used were donated to a local football association in Kigali. The local hosts for this event were the Rwanda Development Board and the Rwanda ICT Association and sponsors included Afilias, Internet Society, MTN-Rwanda, Kigali Institute of Science and Technology, Rwandatel, Network Startup Resource Center, Altech, Artel, bit Internet Technology, Computer Point, and NFT Consult Ltd.

Presentations from this event are available at
http://meeting.afrinic.net/afrinic-12/index.php/the-meeting/agenda/afrinic-12-agenda.

AfriNIC’s 13th Public Policy meeting will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, 20 - 26 November 2010 and we would like to extend a warm invitation to the community to attend and participate.

The African Network Information Center (AfriNIC) is the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for Africa, responsible for the distribution and management of Internet number resources throughout the African region.