AFRINIC

Internet numbers to regional Internet registries such as AFRINIC, which allocate smaller blocks to Internet service providers and other network operators As a regional Internet registry, AFRINIC receives large blocks of Internet numbers from the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), a function of the nonprofit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). AFRINIC is responsible for the allocation and registration of IP addresses and autonomous system (AS) numbers for network operators in its service region, which includes Africa and part of the Indian Ocean. AFRINIC manages IPv4 addresses, which are widely-supported but relatively scarce (see IPv4 address exhaustion), along with IPv6 addresses, which are newer and plentiful but not yet supported by all systems (see IPv6 deployment). AFRINIC manages about 6% of the global IPv4 address pool, a smaller amount per capita than other regions. The database can be searched by using the web interface on the AFRINIC site or by directing a whois client to whois.afrinic.net (for example, whois -h whois.afrinic.net 196.1.0.0/24). Routing security support Internet Routing Registries (IRR) facilitate Internet traffic and improve security, including by reducing risk of Border Gateway Protocol hijacking. Originally AFRINIC encouraged members to register their Internet number resources in RIPE NCC's IRR. In 2013, AFRINIC established its own IRR. AFRINIC supports Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI), which also improves the security of Border Gateway Protocol routing. In 2025, staff reported that 720 members have adopted Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI), with 11,216 Route Origin Authorizations. This allows people to look up an IP address allocated by AFRINIC and find any associated domain names in the Domain Name System (DNS). To improve the resiliency of DNS in its service region, AFRINIC offers secondary DNS hosting services for primary name servers in Africa. Policy development , Ivory CoastAFRINIC staff develop its Internet number allocation policies in collaboration with the organization's members as well as the broader Internet community. Representatives from governments, standards organizations, companies, academia, news media, the technical community, civil society, and other not-for-profit organizations all participate in policy development. These representatives are primarily, but not exclusively, from Africa. The primary forums for policy development are face-to-face public policy meetings and mailing list discussions. Each year, AFRINIC conducts two public policy meetings that give members and other stakeholders the chance to come together for policy development, information sharing, and networking. The first public policy meeting of each year is part of the Africa Internet Summit, which is an annual multi-stakeholder event co-organized by the African Network Operators Group, and the second is held as a standalone meeting. The meetings take place in various locations throughout Africa. Together with the four other regional Internet registries, AFRINIC is part of the Number Resource Organization, which enables the RIRs to coordinate with each other and make joint policy recommendations to ICANN. Capacity building and partnerships As part of its capacity building initiatives, AFRINIC conducts training courses for network administrators, network architects, and other network engineers across its service region. Workshops include Internet number resource management and implementation of IPv6 networks. AFRINIC also offers online training courses on topics including IPv6 deployment, Internet number resource management, DNSSEC, and RPKI. In 2007, AFRINIC and the African Telecommunications Union established a partnership to accelerate adoption of IPv6 networks in Africa, due to IPv4 exhaustion, and develop tools to measure Internet performance. AFRINIC has supported the deployment of regional root name server copies that are compatible with both IPv4 and IPv6. AFRINIC and the Internet Society have worked together to train staff of Internet exchange points and Internet service providers to support routing more of Africa's internet traffic within the continent instead of externally. The organizations have also partnered on measurement initiatives to evaluate Internet performance and reliability across Africa. For example, they built a route analysis tool to learn about and monitor the amount of interconnection between Internet exchange points within Africa. == Organization ==

As required by ICANN policy for regional Internet registries, AFRINIC is a non-profit, non-governmental, community-led entity, without formal backing from governments or politicians. The relevant ICANN policy is Internet Coordination Policy 2 (ICP-2), "Criteria for Establishment of New Regional Internet Registries". Board of directors in 2016 The AFRINIC bylaws prescribe a nine-member board of directors. Six directors are elected to represent the six sub-regions, and two directors are elected based on professional expertise. The elected directors serve three-year terms. The directors elect a chair of the board and a vice-chair. In 2023, the Council of Elders consisted of Nii N. Quaynor, Pierre S. Dandjinou, Viv Padayatchy, Maimouna Ndeye Diop Diagne, and Christian Bope. Staff AFRINIC staff carry out the daily operations of the organization, including technical and administrative responsibilities. The staff is structured in several departments: CEO's Office, Finance and Accounting, People and Productivity, Capacity Building, Communications and Public Relations, Infrastructure and Security, Member Services, Registry Products, Stakeholder Development, and Value Added Services. Members Membership is open to individuals, companies, organizations, and governments that are based in and providing services in Africa. == History ==

Formation , founding chairman of AFRINIC Before AFRINIC formed, IP addresses (IPv6 and IPv4) for Africa were distributed by the Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC), the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN), and the RIPE NCC. At an INET workshop in Malaysia in 1997, participants developed a proposal for an African regional Internet registry. An initial board of trustees came together in 2001, chaired by Nii Quaynor. The registry became operational in February 2005. Adiel Akplogan served as the founding CEO and stayed as CEO until 2015. IPv4 exhaustion process IANA delegated relatively few IPv4 address blocks to AFRINIC, but as of 2015 AFRINIC had a relatively large amount of IPv4 address space that it had not yet allocated to network operators. In April 2017, AFRINIC became the last regional Internet registry to run down to its last /8 block of IPv4 addresses, thus triggering the final phase of its IPv4 exhaustion policy. As a result, AFRINIC then implemented a soft landing policy for allocating the last /8 to its users, in which, since Phase 2 of the exhaustion period (started in January 2020), each AFRINIC customer was eligible for one final maximum allocation of a /22 block of IPv4 addresses until the block was exhausted. In 2025, staff said that about 0.06% of their /8 IPv4 addresses remain available, about 1 million addresses. She also alleged that the board chair, Sunday Folayan, had sexually harassed a staff member. Folayan and the vice-chair resigned from their positions. In 2016 and 2017, independent researcher Ronald Guilmette notified AFRINIC of suspicious patterns of activity related to AFRINIC IPs. In April 2019, South African technology news website MyBroadband worked with Guilmette to report that an AFRINIC senior staff member, Ernest Byaruhanga, had stolen 4.1 million IPv4 addresses over the previous several years. MyBroadband initially estimated the market value of the theft as and revised their estimate to . IPv4 addresses are a public resource, not a private asset, but companies value them because many networks and systems do not yet support the more abundant IPv6 addresses. Some of the legitimate owners were inactive, and many of the IP addresses were unused before they were taken. Eddy Kayihura became CEO in October 2019. Kayihura arranged for the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) to help AFRINIC with investigating the reports of theft. In December 2019, Kayihura dismissed Byaruhanga from the organization for theft of IP address space. AFRINIC also filed criminal charges against Byaruhanga. Between January and July 2020, AFRINIC worked to reclaim stolen IP address blocks, correct WHOIS records, and improve internal security measures. In August 2020, AFRINIC said that Afri Holdings Ltd, Netstyle A. Ltd, and Elad Cohen applied for an injunction against AFRINIC; In early 2021, Logic Web Inc initiated legal action against AFRINIC after AFRINIC reclaimed IP address space from the company. Beginning of legal disputes with Cloud Innovation Ltd in 2020 In June 2020, AFRINIC notified Cloud Innovation, a company registered in Seychelles and led by Hong Kong-based businessman Lu Heng, that the company had breached its Registration Service Agreement with AFRINIC. The concern was unrelated to Byaruhanga's theft of IP addresses. Cloud Innovation contested the complaint on multiple grounds and said it had not broken any rules. On 15 July 2021, due to a court order, AFRINIC restored Cloud Innovation's access to its IP address blocks. However, AFRINIC bank assets remained frozen until 15 October 2021, when the Mauritius High Court granted the removal of the garnishee order. Lobbying In addition to Cloud Innovation, Lu is associated with the Number Resource Society (NRS), a lobbying group established in 2021 that has criticized AFRINIC in online publications and videos. Dissolution of the board in 2022 In early June 2022, AFRINIC's annual board election process involved several disputes and lawsuits, resulting in almost half the board seats becoming vacant and staying vacant. On 30 June 2022, the Supreme Court of Mauritius ruled that AFRINIC's board of directors was invalid, because the CEO had continued to run AFRINIC without a quorum. Without a CEO or board, the staff continued to conduct basic operations, but the organization came close to not being able to pay staff. John Curran, CEO of the American Registry for Internet Numbers, said AFRINIC's lack of formal leadership also made it difficult for the staff to respond to lawsuits. Prompted by AFRINIC's problems and risks, between 2023 and 2025 the Number Resource Organization revisited the criteria and guidance for regional Internet registries. This made some APNIC members concerned about concentration of power and commercialization of Internet numbers, including because of previous lawsuits and lobbying related to AFRINIC. None of those candidates won. In May 2023, AFRINIC said that the Number Resource Society (NRS) had provided AFRINIC members with misleading information regarding a purported 2023 board election, and clarified that no board election was scheduled for that year. In 2024, the CEO of an AFRINIC member company said in a court document that a person working for Lu offered to pay him for access to his AFRINIC account to vote in future board elections. In April 2025, Lu sued The Cape Independent, a website in South Africa, after it published an article that was critical of Lu and said he was trying to take control of AFRINIC. American technology news website Techdirt described the company's letters as fitting the pattern of strategic lawsuits against public participation. The Internet Governance Project, affiliated with American university Georgia Tech, also supported the receivership. A former director of AFRINIC appealed the receivership in late September 2023, which blocked the election process until the court dismissed the appeal in October 2024. Upon the dismissal of the appeal, the court ordered the receiver to conduct a board election within two months, by the end of 2024. In February 2025, the court appointed a new receiver, Gowtamsingh Dabee. Effort at board election in June 2025 In April 2025, AFRINIC's receiver, Gowtamsingh Dabee, announced plans to hold an election in June 2025. He appointed barristers from the United Kingdom to chair a nomination committee because of concerns about "potential interferences in the election process". In May 2025, MyBroadband reported that Cloud Innovation had been added to AFRINIC's company registration information alongside former board members; Lu said this was a legal technicality. In June 2025, the Tanzanian Internet Service Providers Association requested the court to delay the election due to other concerns about voting rights, but the court allowed the election to continue. During the week of online voting in June, ICANN requested the receiver and the court to address the listing of Cloud Innovation in AFRINIC's registration information, potential conflict of interests on the nominating committee, and concerns about election integrity. The receiver said that the Mauritius Registrar of Companies had mistakenly included Cloud Innovation in the AFRINIC registration information, and that he had filed to remove the mistake. Several members who tried to vote in person said they found somebody else had cast their vote without their permission, using fraudulent powers of attorney. The Mauritius Digital Promotion Agency and a Mauritius telecommunications company, Emtel, filed complaints with the Mauritius Police Force about irregularities in the election. Separately, Cloud Innovation filed a lawsuit for the compulsory liquidation of AFRINIC: a petition to the court to dissolve the organization. Subsequently in July 2025, the Prime Minister of Mauritius designated AFRINIC a "declared company", putting it under government oversight to review its governance issues. The President of Mauritius appointed a judge as an inspector to investigate and produce a report about AFRINIC's legal history and situation, including the events that led to receivership, management by receivers, and Cloud Innovation's lawsuits related to AFRINIC. Cloud Innovation applied for an injunction against the judge in August 2025, and it received an interim injunction, which paused progress on the report. The judge withdrew as inspector in August 2025. Cloud Innovation also filed legal complaints to challenge the Prime Minister's designation of AFRINIC as a declared company and the government's decision to appoint a judge as an inspector. Re-establishment of the board (2025) In September 2025, the receiver conducted a successful board election. Out of the eight directors elected, Smart Africa had endorsed seven. == See also ==