AFRINIC
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Template:Infobox organization AFRINIC (African Network Information Centre) is the regional Internet registry (RIR) for Africa and nearby islands in the Indian Ocean, responsible for allocating and registering Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and autonomous system (AS) numbers in its service region. It also provides related technical and administrative services that support the Internet in Africa. Established in 2004, with headquarters in Ebene, Mauritius, AFRINIC is one of five regional Internet registries that coordinate a fundamental part of the technical infrastructure of the Internet.<ref name=":26">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":28" />
AFRINIC is a not-for-profit organization with about 2,400 members across 56 countries in its service region.<ref name=":21">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":27" /> Members include Internet service providers, Internet exchange points, governments, academic institutions, and other organizations and businesses that operate networks. AFRINIC allocates IP address space to members, maintains registration databases, develops policies in consultation with members and the wider Internet community, and provides technical training for network operators. AFRINIC charges members annual fees to cover its operational costs.
AFRINIC has had significant organizational and legal problems. In 2019, a news website reported that an AFRINIC staff member had modified the registration information for 4.1 million IPv4 addresses to sell them on the grey market. In 2020, AFRINIC and a member company, Cloud Innovation Ltd, began a series of legal disputes related to IPv4 address allocation, which led to frozen assets, many injunctions, and, in 2022, the dissolution of the AFRINIC board of directors by the Supreme Court of Mauritius. AFRINIC operated under court-appointed receivership starting in 2023. In June 2025, the receiver tried to conduct a board election, but halted it due to concerns about election integrity. The receiver held a successful board election in September 2025.
Technical operations and programs
Internet numbers
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).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref name=":46">Template:Cite web</ref>
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,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a smaller amount per capita than other regions.<ref name=":36" />
WHOIS database
The AFRINIC WHOIS database contains registration details of IP addresses and AS numbers allocated by AFRINIC.<ref name=":35" /> It shows the organizations that hold the resources, where the allocations were made, and contact details for the networks. Resource holders are responsible for updating their information in the database.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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).<ref name=":35" />
AFRINIC also supports the Registration Data Access Protocol, the successor to the WHOIS protocol.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Routing security support
Internet Routing Registries (IRR) facilitate Internet traffic and improve security, including by reducing risk of Border Gateway Protocol hijacking.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Originally AFRINIC encouraged members to register their Internet number resources in RIPE NCC's IRR.<ref name=":35">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2013, AFRINIC established its own IRR.<ref name=":35" /> In 2025, staff reported that 1,767 members use AFRINIC's IRR.<ref name=":29">Template:Cite web</ref>
AFRINIC supports Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI), which also improves the security of Border Gateway Protocol routing.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2025, staff reported that 720 members have adopted Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI), with 11,216 Route Origin Authorizations.<ref name=":29" />
Domain Name System services
AFRINIC enables reverse DNS lookup for its IPv4 and IPv6 address blocks.<ref name=":38" /><ref name=":39">Template:Cite web</ref> This allows people to look up an IP address allocated by AFRINIC and find any associated domain names in the Domain Name System (DNS).<ref name=":38">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":39" />
AFRINIC publishes reverse DNS zone data to support Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
To improve the resiliency of DNS in its service region, AFRINIC offers secondary DNS hosting services for primary name servers in Africa.<ref name=":27" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Policy development
AFRINIC 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref name=":27">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Workshops include Internet number resource management and implementation of IPv6 networks.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> AFRINIC also offers online training courses on topics including IPv6 deployment, Internet number resource management, DNSSEC, and RPKI.<ref name=":27" /> These courses teach participants to configure, manage, and administer Internet services and infrastructure using current best practices.
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> AFRINIC has supported the deployment of regional root name server copies that are compatible with both IPv4 and IPv6.<ref name=":27" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The organizations have also partnered on measurement initiatives to evaluate Internet performance and reliability across Africa.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> For example, they built a route analysis tool to learn about and monitor the amount of interconnection between Internet exchange points within Africa.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
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.<ref name=":25" /><ref name=":24">Template:Cite news</ref> The relevant ICANN policy is Internet Coordination Policy 2 (ICP-2), "Criteria for Establishment of New Regional Internet Registries".<ref name=":25" />
Service region
AFRINIC's service region is the continent of Africa and adjacent islands in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, including Madagascar.<ref name=":4" /> It is divided into six sub-regions to ensure regional representation on the board of directors: Eastern Region, Western Region, Central Africa, Northern Africa, Southern Africa, and Indian Ocean.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite web</ref>
Board of directors
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The AFRINIC bylaws prescribe a nine-member board of directors.<ref name=":10">Template:Cite web</ref> Six directors are elected to represent the six sub-regions, and two directors are elected based on professional expertise.<ref name=":10" /> The last seat on the board is filled by the chief executive officer.<ref name=":10" />
AFRINIC members elect directors at annual general member meetings, normally in May or June.<ref name=":10" /> The organization's bylaws define quorum for this meeting as the presence of four regional directors, one non-regional director, and five members.<ref name=":10" /> Members vote on-site at the meeting and prior to the meeting via online voting.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The elected directors serve three-year terms.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The directors elect a chair of the board and a vice-chair.<ref name=":10" /> The directors appoint a chief executive officer, which is a staff role.<ref name=":10" />
Council of Elders
The AFRINIC Council of Elders, which consists of up to six former board chairs, advises the board.<ref name=":10" /> The council is not elected by organization members.<ref name=":14">Template:Cite news</ref> In 2023, the Council of Elders consisted of Nii N. Quaynor, Pierre S. Dandjinou, Viv Padayatchy, Maimouna Ndeye Diop Diagne, and Christian Bope.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref name="team">Template:Cite web</ref>
Members
Membership is open to individuals, companies, organizations, and governments that are based in and providing services in Africa.<ref name=":10" /> Members include Internet service providers, Internet exchange points, data centers, universities, banks, governments, and individuals.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
History
Formation
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.<ref name=":42">Template:Cite web</ref> An initial board of trustees came together in 2001, chaired by Nii Quaynor.<ref name=":42" />
The organization was established as an organization in Mauritius, with plans for technical operations in South Africa, backup and disaster recovery in Egypt, and training coordination in Ghana.<ref name=":25" /> ICANN gave AFRINIC provisional approval in October 2004.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The registry became operational in February 2005.<ref name=":24" /> ICANN gave it final recognition in April 2005.<ref name=":25">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Adiel Akplogan served as the founding CEO and stayed as CEO until 2015.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
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.<ref name=":36">Template:Cite web</ref> 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<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>), each AFRINIC customer was eligible for one final maximum allocation of a /22 block of IPv4 addresses until the block was exhausted.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2025, staff said that about 0.06% of their /8 IPv4 addresses remain available, about 1 million addresses.<ref name=":29" />
Sexual harassment and bullying complaint in 2018
In March 2018, the RIR's head of external relations, Vymala Poligadu, alleged that the board chair, vice chair, and head of the financial department had planned to get her fired from her position.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref> She also alleged that the board chair, Sunday Folayan, had sexually harassed a staff member.<ref name=":1" /> In response to a member complaint about high staff turnover, an anonymous person leaked an internal document with details of Poligadu's accusations to the organization's discussion mailing list.<ref name=":1" /> An independent Investigation Committee found evidence of one incident of harassment but not "bullying or intimidation".<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":8" /> It also found that Folayan breached his non-disclosure agreement.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":8">Template:Cite web</ref> Folayan and the vice-chair resigned from their positions.<ref name=":1" /> Many members criticized the Investigation Committee findings and the board's handling of the allegations.<ref name=":14" /> In the May 2018 board election, a majority of voters chose the "none of the above" option as a protest vote.<ref name=":14" />
Theft of IP address space reported in 2019
Starting as early as 2013, AFRINIC IP addresses were misused to forward spam.<ref name=":33">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":11">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2016 and 2017, independent researcher Ronald Guilmette notified AFRINIC of suspicious patterns of activity related to AFRINIC IPs.<ref name=":12">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":11" /> In March 2019, based on information from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Supreme Court of Mauritius ordered AFRINIC to investigate suspicious activities related to IPv4 blocks.<ref name=":6" />
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.<ref name=":32" /><ref name=":6">Template:Cite web</ref> MyBroadband initially estimated the market value of the theft as Template:Currency and revised their estimate to Template:Currency.<ref name=":32" /><ref name=":5">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name=":33" /><ref name=":32" /> Companies and organizations sometimes sell or lease their unused IPv4 allocations to other entities.<ref name=":2" /> In this case, Byaruhanga changed WHOIS registration records to reassign IPv4 address blocks from their rightful holders to companies that purchased the blocks on the grey market.<ref name=":33" /><ref name=":32">Template:Cite web</ref> Some of the legitimate owners were inactive, and many of the IP addresses were unused before they were taken.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":32" /> Many of the stolen addresses were used to host gambling and pornography websites aimed at people in China.<ref name=":3" />
In July 2019, CEO Alan Barrett resigned from his role.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Eddy Kayihura became CEO in October 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Kayihura arranged for the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) to help AFRINIC with investigating the reports of theft.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In December 2019, Kayihura dismissed Byaruhanga from the organization for theft of IP address space.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> AFRINIC also filed criminal charges against Byaruhanga.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":7">Template:Cite web</ref>
Between January and July 2020, AFRINIC worked to reclaim stolen IP address blocks, correct WHOIS records, and improve internal security measures.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In August 2020, AFRINIC said that Afri Holdings Ltd, Netstyle A. Ltd, and Elad Cohen applied for an injunction against AFRINIC;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":6" /> MyBroadBand reported that Cohen was connected to misappropriated IP address space.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In early 2021, Logic Web Inc initiated legal action against AFRINIC after AFRINIC reclaimed IP address space from the company.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref> The concern was unrelated to Byaruhanga's theft of IP addresses.<ref name=":3" /> AFRINIC alleged that Cloud Innovation had broken their registration agreement in multiple ways, including by leasing IPv4 addresses to entities outside of the AFRINIC service region.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":15" /> Cloud Innovation's business partner, Larus Limited, a company based in Hong Kong also owned by Lu, leases IP addresses to customers such as China Telecom and China Mobile.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":15" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Cloud Innovation contested the complaint on multiple grounds and said it had not broken any rules.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> AFRINIC responded in March 2021 with related requests, and Cloud Innovation rejected the requests.<ref name=":2" />Template:Vague
In early July 2021, AFRINIC froze 6.2 million IP addresses it had assigned to Cloud Innovation between 2013 and 2016.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":2" /> Cloud Innovation sued AFRINIC to remove the restrictions on its IP address space and sought Template:Currency in damages for defamation.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":2" /> The Supreme Court of Mauritius ordered the provisional freezing of up to Template:Currency in AFRINIC bank accounts,<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":2" /> in the form of an ex parte action that allowed at-own-risk garnishment by Cloud Innovation.<ref name=":45" /> Since AFRINIC had less than Template:Currency in its accounts, all of its assets were frozen.<ref name=":13">Template:Cite web</ref> On 15 July 2021, due to a court order, AFRINIC restored Cloud Innovation's access to its IP address blocks.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> However, AFRINIC bank assets remained frozen until 15 October 2021, when the Mauritius High Court granted the removal of the garnishee order.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":45" /> Cloud Innovation filed several additional lawsuits related to organizational operations.<ref name=":28">Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Vague
Lobbying
In addition to Cloud Innovation, Lu is associated with the Number Resource Society (NRS), a lobbying group established in 2021 that has extensively criticized AFRINIC in online publications and videos.<ref name="heise1">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":15">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":16" /> NRS has advocated for changing the entire regional Internet registry system to a market-based system that allows private ownership and unrestricted sales of IP address space.<ref name=":15" /> Lu has also financed the website Blue Tech Wave Media (BTW Media), which has argued for private ownership of IP addresses, criticized ICANN, and made claims about AFRINIC elections.<ref name=":18">Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref name=":9">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":13" /> Cloud Innovation and Crystal Web, a former Internet service provider in South Africa that leases out IP address space through one of Lu's companies,<ref name=":13" /> filed lawsuits that blocked procedural aspects of the election process.<ref name=":13" /><ref name=":23">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name=":9" />
In July 2022, the Number Resource Organization (an organization of the five regional Internet registries, affiliated with ICANN) sent a letter to the Mauritius government that described Cloud Innovation's 25 lawsuits against AFRINIC as "an attempt to cause irreparable harm to the core functions of AFRINIC", said "it would be very unfortunate for the African regional community if the above situation proves that the designation of Mauritius as the place to locate AFRINIC has been wrong", and asked the government to recognize AFRINIC as an international organization.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="heise1" /> The chair of the RIPE Address Policy Working Group criticized the letter for not respecting Mauritius self-governance.<ref name="heise1" />
AFRINIC requested the Supreme Court of Mauritius to dismiss Cloud Innovation's lawsuits as vexatious, but in August 2022, the court ruled against the dismissal and allowed the lawsuits to continue.<ref name=":9" /> The judge concluded that the lawsuits were caused by the registry's "determination... to terminate (the plaintiff's) membership" and did not find evidence that the lawsuits were vexatious.<ref name=":9" />
The CEO's contract expired in November 2022 and could not be renewed due to the lack of a complete board.<ref name=":16">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="AFRINIC-CEO-farewell">Template:Cite news</ref> Without a CEO or board, the staff continued to conduct basic operations, but the organization came close to not being able to pay staff.<ref name=":16" /> In April 2023, some companies said their applications for address allocations were not getting processed in a timely manner.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name=":16" /> Since the remaining elected directors did not have quorum to hold new elections, their three-year terms eventually expired.<ref name=":23" /><ref name=":34">Template:Cite web</ref>
Prompted by AFRINIC's problems and risks, between 2023 and 2025 the Number Resource Organization revisited the criteria and guidance for regional Internet registries.<ref name=":37">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":0" /> They requested public input for Internet Coordination Policy 2 (ICP-2), including to establish processes for de-registering and reforming a regional Internet registry if it cannot function.<ref name=":37" /><ref name=":0" />
Controversies and defamation cases (2023–2025)
In February 2023, Lu and five additional people endorsed by the Number Resource Society, affiliated with Lu, ran for the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) board on a reform platform.<ref name=":40">Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name=":16" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> None of those candidates won.<ref name=":17" /><ref name=":40" /> The APNIC board election had several challenges, including allegations of code of conduct violations such as threats and intimidation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In May 2023, AFRINIC said the Number Resource Society had given AFRINIC members misleading information about an upcoming AFRINIC board election; no election was planned for 2023.<ref name=":41">Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name=":23" />
In 2024, Lu successfully sued The Daily Telegraph for libel for an article they published about the dispute between Cloud Innovation and AFRINIC, including for claims that Lu was trying to orchestrate the collapse of AFRINIC.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":17" /> Both articles were taken down.<ref name=":17" /> Lu also filed defamation lawsuits against Noah Maina, Secretary General of the Tanzania Internet Service Providers Association, and Brian Longwe, a company founder, who have spoken about AFRINIC board election processes.<ref name=":17" /> In July 2025, Cloud Innovation sent cease and desist letters to people who posted links to a Medium article about the conflict between Cloud Innovation and AFRINIC.<ref name=":30">Template:Cite web</ref> American technology news website Techdirt described the company's letters as fitting the pattern of strategic lawsuits against public participation.<ref name=":30" />
Court-appointed receivership (2023–2025)
In March 2023, Cloud Innovation petitioned the Supreme Court of Mauritius to place AFRINIC into receivership.<ref name=":13" /> The court ruled to establish receivership in September 2023, and it appointed a receiver, Vasoodayven Virasami.<ref name=":13" /><ref name=":34" /> The court directed him to maintain the ordinary operations of the organization and conduct a board election within six months.<ref name=":13" /><ref name=":34" /> The Number Resource Organization (affiliated with ICANN) supported the receivership as a mechanism to "restore AFRINIC to functional governance".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Internet Governance Project, affiliated with American university Georgia Tech, also supported the receivership.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref name=":23" /> Upon the dismissal of the appeal, the court ordered the receiver to conduct a board election within two months, by the end of 2024.<ref name=":23" /> This did not happen.<ref name=":17">Template:Cite web</ref> In February 2025, the court appointed a new receiver, Gowtamsingh Dabee.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Effort at board election in June 2025
In April 2025, AFRINIC's receiver, Gowtamsingh Dabee, announced plans to hold an election in June 2025.<ref name=":31">Template:Cite news</ref> He appointed barristers from the United Kingdom to chair a nomination committee because of concerns about "potential interferences in the election process".<ref name=":31" /> Industry bodies that endorsed candidates for the election included Smart Africa, the South African Network Operators Group, and the Internet Service Providers' Association of South Africa (which all endorsed a similar slate of candidates), along with the Number Resource Society.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name=":43">Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name=":43" /> He also provided clarifications about the nomination and election process.<ref name=":43" />
Near the end of in-person voting on 23 June 2025, the receiver suspended voting due to questions about the validity of some votes.<ref name=":19">Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name=":28" /><ref name=":19" /> Members also alleged fraudulent proxy votes and expressed concerns about lack of transparency for the ballot-counting process.<ref name=":20">Template:Cite web</ref> The Mauritius Digital Promotion Agency and a Mauritius telecommunications company, Emtel, filed complaints with the Mauritius Police Force about irregularities in the election.<ref name=":21" /><ref name=":20" /> On 26 June 2025, the receiver annulled the election and planned to conduct a new election by the end of September.<ref name=":21" /><ref name=":19" />
Continued governance challenges in 2025
On 3 July 2025, ICANN informed the receiver that ICANN could appoint an emergency replacement to AFRINIC if necessary.<ref name=":22">Template:Cite news</ref> Separately, Cloud Innovation filed a lawsuit for the compulsory liquidation of AFRINIC: a petition to the court to dissolve the organization.<ref name=":18" /><ref name=":22" /> ICANN sent another letter to the receiver that disagreed with Cloud Innovation's effort to dissolve AFRINIC, emphasized that IP addresses are not private assets, and recommended improvements for elections to reduce interference.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Subsequently in July 2025, the Prime Minister of Mauritius designated AFRINIC a "declared company", putting it under government oversight to review its governance issues.<ref name=":44" /><ref name=":45">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":44">Template:Cite web</ref> Cloud Innovation applied for an injunction against the judge in August 2025,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and it received an interim injunction, which paused progress on the report.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The judge withdrew as inspector in August 2025.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Re-establishment of the board (2025)
In September 2025, the receiver conducted a successful board election.<ref name=":47">Template:Cite web</ref> Out of the eight directors elected, Smart Africa had endorsed seven.<ref name=":47" />
See also
- Address Supporting Organization
- African Internet Governance Forum
- African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms
- World Summit on the Information Society