When African heads of state dissolved the Organization of African Unity in 2002 and replaced it with the African Union, it was envisaged that the AU would be performing a function like the E.U.ropean Union, leading in policy direction especially relating to the use of ICT to accelerate development. Eight years later, the AU heads of state are still focused more on political resolutions and less on ICT and development issues.The AU represents 53 African countries within ICANN's Government Advisory Committee but can not make binding decisions for its member nations. Meanwhile, not all countries have ICT policies, infrastructure investment is still low and costs remain high, making the cost of international and local investment steep.However, the AU is making strides toward a cyber-security framework that can be adopted by member countries. Esam Abulkhirat, a senior ICT policy officer at the AU and has represented the union in major technology events. Computerworld Kenya (Our sister publication) spoke to him at the AU conference in Addis Ababa this week. Following is an edited transcript.

Computerworld: Both the AU and EU sit in the GAC; how come the E.U. is considered to have made more progress in terms of technology policy harmonization and adoption with member countries?

Abulkhirat: The AU and EU have two distinct roles within GAC; EU is a member and the AU is an observer. The EU is mandated to make decisions on behalf of member countries; the AU has no power to make such decisions because we lack a sanction mechanism to compel members to comply.

Besides, African countries are yet to recognize the importance of participating in ICANN meetings; we are always encouraging members and alerting them of what ICANN can do to solve some of the issues such as redelegation of domains. Currently, there are five African countries actively participating in the GAC- Kenya, South Africa, Senegal, Nigeria and Egypt.

Computerworld: Redelegation of domains seems to be a major issue yet it is not part of the agenda of the AU heads of state summit -- why?

Abulkhirat: The issue of redelegation and management of African domains is complicated because there seems to be a misunderstanding over the roles of all parties; the governments misunderstand what ICANN or the ITU can or can not do.

Some countries argue that ICANN has refused to redelegate while ICANN can't refuse; there are procedures set and countries must demonstrate technical capability ... to manage the domain on their behalf. Moreover, ICANN can not redelegate on its own, there must be an application by the country and investment in technical infrastructure.

The heads of state meeting will be held for three days from January 31st to February 2nd, maybe the debate on ICT and development will be discussed for more than three hours this time; usually, ICT takes two an half hours and the rest is dedicated to peace and security.

We will have the opening ceremony address by Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda, who is one of the leaders who has adopted ICT; Hamadoun Toure, Secretary General of ITU and the debate of ICT and development will go on before discussions switch to peace and security issues.

The AU is working together other agencies like AfriNIC, the Africa Top Level Domain organization to address issues of redelegation but also regional Internet exchange points. We have funds from the E.U. and we will start some of the projects this year.

Computerworld: Why is Africa more active in the ITU, and not ICANN?

Abulkhirat: The debate is not between Africa (and ICANN) only. The problem started at the World Summit on Information Society in Tunis in 2005, with countries complaining about the role of the U.S. government in Internet governance but now its becoming more and more open with the signing of the Affirmation of Commitment (AoC) between ICANN and the U.S. government last year.

Until we find the proper mechanism to deal with the issues, government participation in ICANN will continue being an issue.

Computerworld: But Western governments participate in ICANN.

Abulkhirat: Western governments participate in ICANN because they derive benefits; they have thriving online businesses. Many African countries do not see these benefits.

In Africa, we need to change the mentality of the way people participate in ICANN and the benefits they can get from these meetings. During last year's Internet Governance Forum in Egypt, we met three days before and had a common position. Earlier in the year, East and West Africa had held regional IGF meetings and it was easy to identify the issues.

If we know our problems, we can tackle them but if we go just to participate, its not enough, but now Africa is coming together and we can interact with Western countries and get benefits.

Computerworld: How can Africa improve its role in ICANN given the next meeting is in Nairobi in March?

Abulkhirat: I have been working hard to find a proper answer to this question; but haven't got many answers.

We are working to encourage countries to participate in the ICANN process; the Internet is changing and African countries must be involved. ICANN provides fellowships for countries to participate in the meetings especially in GAC but if a country does not find value in participating in such a meeting, they will not send a representative.

Computerworld: Any expectations for the ICANN meeting?

Abulkhirat: No much expectations but it's in Africa -- maybe we will address the redelegation issues because many representatives from Africa will be there.

Computerworld: On cyber security, AU has been working with the ITU, E.U. and the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa, what is the progress?

Abulkhirat: We have developed the cyber security framework, which countries can then take and adapt to suit their needs. We do not enforce, we just encourage, mobilize, raise awareness and help by developing the framework that countries can refer to when developing their laws.

Some countries like South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Tunisia, and Ivory coast, have already developed cyber security laws, so its mainly for countries that are working on theirs.