ICANN again intervenes to defend AFRINIC

Summary

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has again intervened in the affairs of the African Network Information Centre (AFRINIC), the regional internet registry for 54 nations across Africa and the Indian Ocean.AFRINIC’s home is the island nation of Mauritius, where the Supreme Court recently issued an order [PDF] allowing ICANN to become a party to an application to wind up the registry.AFRINIC has a long history of turmoil, some related to internal corruption. Most of its troubles in the last five years relate to a long and complex dispute with one of its members, a company called Cloud Innovation. The dispute saw AFRINIC placed in receivership. The registry’s receiver eventually ordered fresh elections for AFRINIC. That poll took place in June 2025. After allegations that some proxy votes were cast on behalf of some AFRINIC members without their consent or knowledge, the committee overseeing the poll suspended voting - and later annulled the election. As the peak governance body for unique internet identifiers - domain names and IP addresses - ICANN has oversight of AFRINIC. After the annulment, ICANN intervened with a letter to AFRINIC’s receiver warning that the election could be grounds for it to review whether AFRINIC is compliant with its mandate. Cloud Innovation reacted to ICANN’s letter with an announcement that it would commence legal action aimed at “dissolving AFRINIC as a corporate entity and transitioning its responsibilities to a more trusted framework.” That action is now ongoing.ICANN again stepped in, with a letter [PDF] to the IT Minister of Mauritius that rejects dissolving AFRINIC as an appropriate course of action.The global regulator has now intervened again by successfully applying to become a party to Cloud Innovation’s attempt to dissolve AFRINIC.An ICANN spokesperson explained its decision to seek standing in Cloud Innovation’s attempt to wind up AFRINIC as follows:“Our purpose in seeking to intervene is to ensure ...