ICANN heads to western Africa this fall.
ICANN’s October 2011 meeting will be held in Dakar, Senegal, the non-profit announced today. Dakar is Senegal’s capital and is home to two million people.
The last meeting ICANN held in Africa was poorly attended due to security concerns. However, last year’s Nairobi, Kenya meeting concluded without any public incidents.
ICANN has already moved one meeting location this year, moving a planned June meeting in Jordan to Singapore due to general unrest in the Middle East.
ICANN is monitoring the situation in Senegal for any potential problems. In its blog post the group wrote:
We are aware of concerns within the community regarding the recent demonstration that took place in Senegal. In keeping with our normal procedures and our obligation to provide a safe and secure environment for ICANN meetings, we will continue to closely monitor the situation as we prepare for the meeting.
The U.S. State Department web site notes:
Public demonstrations, political gatherings, and student protests are relatively common in Senegal, both in Dakar and in outlying regions, particularly on Friday afternoons. In the past, these events have sometimes turned violent. Due to the potential for violence, U.S. citizens should avoid political gatherings and street demonstrations, and maintain security awareness at all times.
Jp says
What is with these idiots? Do they just throw a dart at a map? There are so many cointries to choose from yet they can’t seem to choose a country they attendees won’t have to think twice about.
FX says
I thought they picked toronto for oct meeting?
DomainersChoice says
they pick locations, where they have never been and would like to visit on a paid business trip
Andrew Allemann says
Toronto is oct 2012.
I just sent an email to icann to see why this announcement dissapeared.
Meyer says
You can always tell when Icann wants
to sweep something through without
a lot of face to face opposition.
They plan the meeting where they know
attendance will be much less.
๐
John Berryhill says
“Do they just throw a dart at a map?”
The ICANN by-laws require that the meetings rotate through the five ICANN regions of North America, South America, Asia/Pacific, Africa, and Europe.
ICANN receives proposals from host organizations and sponsors that can meet the size and technical requirements for the meeting.
So the choice is constrained by those two factors before a decision can be made, and sometimes it is a limited set of options.
If you don’t do your basic travel diligence to know the environment, cities like Los Angeles, New York and Washington DC can be a risky place to do dumb things too.
Andrew Allemann says
@ John – didn’t ICANN recently change the requirement that they must receive a proposal for a location in order to have a meeting there?
With regards to Senegal, it seems like a relatively safe place.
Andrew Allemann says
I have confirmed Senegal with ICANN. Haven’t found out why their blog post disappeared.
bernard says
What exciting news!
Meyer says
Just for reference,
Icann meetings in Africa
March, 2000 โ Cairo, Egypt
March, 2002 โ Accra, Ghana
October, 2003 โ Carthage, Tunisia
December, 2004 โ Cape Town, South Africa
June, 2006 โ Marrakech, Morocco
November, 2008 โ Cairo, Egypt
March, 2010 โ Nairobi, Kenya
October, 2011 – Dakar, Senegal (proposed)
Gidi says
Interesting to see how Africa will run this affair, if it will be free of all the politics we see around. Great news.
May i just pardon John anf perhaps hope that in time we shall appreciate the choice of the meeting this time round. Africa has capacity.