Why is ICANN awarding .africa to African Union when it promotes censorship?

Sourced from  Internet Law Center Cyber Report ilccyberreport

According to a report in All Africa, the African Union barred African internet entrepreneur Sophia Bekele, founder of the DotConnectAfrica Trust (DCA), from speaking at  the ITU’s “Girls in ICT” day event held at the AU headquarters.

The reason?  Bekele’s DCA has also applied for the .africa gTLD and is appealing ICANN’s initial award of the domain to the African Union which CIO Magazine charged was the result of a “process [that] has lacked good will and the transparency that a continental project would attract.”

Bekele explained why the AU’s actions were disturbing:

Bottom line is if the AU conducts itself in such manner over an African, why should the AU deserve to get the ‘.africa’ pan African TLD identity, as it could also block anyone they do not like either from having the identity or simply from blocking a .africa identity should the person have divergent views?

The ITU’s “Girls in ICT Day” aims to help inspire girls to consider a future in technology. It was established in 2010 and supports the global organization of activities every year on the fourth Thursday in April. Over 100 countries held events hosted by governments, private sector and NGOs to mark the day last week.

More information about Ms. Bekele and DCA: