The African Challenge: Internet, Networking and Connectivity

ThirdWorld Quarterly, Vol 18, No 5, pp 883± 898, 1997

TheAfrican challenge: internet, networkingand connectivity activities ina developingenvironment

OLIVIERCOEURDEROY

LeMonde s’ est trouve Âouverta Átoutela race humaine ViveÂs,1531 Theaim of this article is tohighlight the importance of electronic communicationnetworks such as theinternet in helping the development processes initiatedseveral decades ago in Africa. First, I describebrie¯ y thenetworking environmentin Africa, the technologies, the networking systems andinitiatives. Next,I undertakea cogitationon the development of these networks in Africa anddescribe the obstacles to their expansion and challenges to theirdevelopment inthe current African environment. Why is theinternet useful for the African continent?Are there other priorities? Can electronic communication networks be developmenttools? Are they useful for the African continent? Are there other priorities?My answers andthe presentation of several initiatives and network projectsshed light on the vital and desperate need for such information and communicationtechnologies in theacademic, development and research sectors, thereforefor all of African society. Theinternet might be seen bysome typesof peoplein developedcountries as apasttime,a game,an entertainment, a newmultimedia medium providing nice graphicsand images. Its needand value are notfully understood in a society `stuffed’with information. Information, information technologies and data net- workshave a fundamentalrole in the development of our societal and cultural environments.Their role is betterunderstood in the context of developing countries.The internet and other communication networks are actualdevelop- menttools, as importantas educational,agricultural and training programmes.

TheAfrican matrix TheAfrican continent has theleast developed telecommunication network in the world.The International Telecommunication Union ( ITU)indicatesfor the Africancontinent in 1994a teledensity 1 of1.6 (45 in Europe)and 1.2 outside the largeurban centres. These numbers are muchlower in sub-Saharan Africa (SouthAfrica is theexception) where the number of telephonesis lowerthan in

Olivier Coeurde Royis ate-mail , [email protected] . .

0143-6597/97/050883-16$7.00 Ó 1997Third World Quarterly 883 OLIVIER COEUR DEROY

Manhattan.The telecommunications infrastructure is insuf®cient, not well adaptedto theneed of theAfrican environment and unequally distributed on the continent.Equipment is concentratedin urban zones and not rural zones where mostof the population’ s livesare forgotten.The following paragraphs describe thecurrent status of the development of electroniccommunication networks. The term`matrix’ refers tothe set ofall networks, the internet as wellas other networkssuch as BitNet,FidoNet and Unix to Unix Copy ( UUCP). Table 1 presentsthe four main types of networking connectivity in Africa. Themost recent survey shows that 40 African countries have full connection tothe internet. 2 Thesecountries are mainlylocated in the north and west of the continentand South Africa. A fullinternet connection means thatusers cantake advantageof networking services suchas email,conferences, newsgroups, distributionlists, remote log-in, File Transfer Protocol, ( FTP)gopher,Wide Area InformationServers ( WAIS)andthe Web. Other countries are alsoconnected to othernetworks such as BitNet,FidoNet and UUCP withwhich an internet connectionis possible. TheBitNet network offers threebasic communication tools: messages, ftpand electronicmail. The electronic bulletin board can be used interactively. BitNet isconnectedto othernetworks such as theinternet. In Africa, Egypt and Burundi are theonly countries connected to BitNet. TheFidoNet network was establishedin 1984 to support electronic mail and thenewsgroup service between different Bulletin Board System ( BBS), with an attractiveprice. More than 25 000computers are connectedto the FidoNet network.FidoNet uses thetraditional telephone network as acommunication toolbetween computers equipped with networks. FidoNet Systems are batch- basedstore and forward technology widely used in Africa because they offer a low-costnetworking platform optimised for use onlow-quality phone lines. Fidonetsystems are notinternet-upgradeab le,but are connectedto the internet and to the UUCP Network.In Africa FidoNet is mainlyused by NGOs. Table 1 showsthat FidoNet is availablein Eritrea and Rwanda. UUCP isaset ofprotocolsdeveloped to copy® les betweenUnix systems, using phonelines and modems. UUCP was initiallydeveloped for Unix systems and alsoperforms on other operating systems. UUCP is abatch-basedsystem, only suitablefor low-volume data transmission. UUCP canrun over different networks (packetswitching, X.25 lines, leased line). Indirect connections to the internet are possiblevia a computerconnected to theinternet and transmission via a UUCP call. UUCP is widelyused in Africa because the system makes possiblean easy transitiontowards the TCP/IP protocol,3 whichprovides a directconnection to the internet.In other words, UUCP systems are TCP/IP compatibleand internet upgradeable.The UUCP technologyis welladapted to the African communicationsinfrastructure. The UUCP networkis ableto work with the simplest equipment,with bad telephone lines and on different types of networks. The mainnetworks that use thistechnology are RIO inFrancophone Africa and UNINET-ZA insouthern Africa. Thedifferences between the types of services offeredby the FidoNet and UUCP networksand by the internet are explainedby the lack of interactivity,the unavailabilityof telnet and rlog-in applications that allow users towork on 884 INTERNET ACTIVITIES INADEVELOPING ENVIRONMENT

TABLE 1 Networkingconnectivity in Africa Release:97.09.04, last-modi® ed: 1997/ 09/19 Code Country Connection Comments AOAngola (Republic of) FI BFBurkina Faso FI BJ Benin FI BW Botswana FI CFCentral African Republic FI FI CICoÃte’Ivoire FImeans Full internet CM Cameroon FIConnection DJ Djibouti FIThis includes remote DZ Algeria FIapplications such as telnet, ftp EG Egypt FIBand internet E-mail ET Ethiopia FI GH Ghana FI PFI KE Kenya FIstands fora provisional LS Lesotho FIfull internet connection MA Morocco FIThis is used when one or more MGMadagascar FIof the following is true: ML Mali FIaddress not veri® ed MRMauritania FIor lack of address NA Namibia FInet connection possible but NE Niger FInot of® cially announced NG Nigeria FIpremature of® cial SN Senegal FIannouncement of connection SZSwaziland FI TN Tunisia FI TZ Tanzania FI B UG Uganda FIstands forBitNet connection ZASouth Africa FI ZM Zambiaa FI ZW Zimbabwe FI TG Togo FI GQEquatorial Guinea FI GWGuinea Bissau FI GA Gabon FI SD Sudan FI BI Burundi FI-B CDDemocratic Republic of Congo (Zaire) b PFI GN Guinea PFI CG Congo PFI MW Malawi FFidoNet Network Connection RW Rwandac FIt is assumed that the connection ER Eritrea F is stable and reliable SLSierra Leone U UUCPConnection TD Chad UThe country is reachable GM Gambia U by e-mail SO Somalia 0 LY Libya 0No connection LR Liberia 0

FI 5 Full internet connection, including remote applications such as telnet, ftp and internet email. PFI 5 Provisional full internet connection. This is used when one or more of the following is true: address not veri® ed or lack of address; net connection possible but not of® cially announced; premature of® cial announcement of connection. B 5 BitNet connection. F 5 FidoNet connection. Itis assumed that the network is stable and reliable. U 5 UUCPconnection. The country is reachable by email. 0 5 Noconnection. aIntermittent; bUnstable Connectivity; cCurrently Cut. Source: Compiled fromdata obtained on the internet, on the World Wide Web Site developed by Olivier Crepin-Leblond, `International e-mail accessibility’ ,available at: http://www.ee.ic.ac.uic/misc/country-codes.html. 885 OLIVIER COEUR DEROY remotecomputers and by thelack of internetservices suchas WAIS,FileTransfer Protocol FTP andthe World Wide Web ( WWW)inan interactive mode. 4 Resources offeredby the electronic mail in batch mode are nevertheless important.They allow participation in forums,discussion lists, the WAIS database and FTP,documentand computer programs research viaArchie and Trickel servers, access toinformation available on the WWW viaelectronic mail, searchingfor electronic directories such as WHOIS andX500 and the reading of newsand articles available on UseNet. Compared to the costs ofvoice and fax telecommunications,electronic mail is theonly type of technology that Africa canafford for international communications. Whenthe main objective is toget new data which Africa has lackedfor severalyears, these networks are, in the short term, an excellent basis for trainingusers whowill know in the future the conviviality and ef® ciencyof full directinternet connections.

Themain communication networks in Africa Themain networking projects being developed or in working condition on the Africancontinent have chie¯ y beencreated by non-governmental agencies and are mainlyresearch± education networks. The following section brie¯ y presents themain communications networks in Africa.

GreenNet

GreenNetis thenetwork of a nongovernmentalorganisation ( NGO) member of theAlliance for Global Communication ( APC).Thenetwork is basedon Fidonet technology.The Fido Gateway of GreeNet (GnFido), with the `store and forward’technology allows access tobasic services ofthe internet (email). GreenNetworks conjointly with other networks helping the development of local initiativeslike HealthNet and SDN participatein training programmes with CapacityBuilding for Electronic Communication in Africa ( CABECA). The main correspondentsof GreenNetcome from NGOslocatedin SouthAfrica, Botswana, Ethiopia,Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Uganda, Senegal, Tanzania, Tunisia,Zambia and Zimbabwe.

HealthNet HealthNetis acomputernetwork for health care workersadministered by SatelLife,an international non-pro® t organisationbased in the USA. Theuse of low-Earth-orbitsatellites allows an affordable transmission and share ofelec- tronicmail and publications. Ground stations are operationalin Botswana, BurkinaFaso, Cameroon, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique,South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

PADIS/CABECA

ThePan African Development Information System ( PADIS)was developedin 886 INTERNET ACTIVITIES INADEVELOPING ENVIRONMENT

1980by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa ( UNECA). The objectivesof PADIS wereto assure themanagement of developmentinformation andpromote the exchange of andaccess toinformationon scienti®c, technological,economic and societal aspects ofdevelopment. In 1990 PADISNET receivedthe ® nancialhelp of a publiccompany, the CanadianInternational Development Research Centre( IDRC,createdby the Canadianparliament, which helped research intothe adaptation of science and technologyto the needs of developing countries. The CABECA projectwas thus createdand executed by the PADIS. Theobjective of CABECA is toprovide technical assistance indeveloping a sustainableway in which computer networks in Africa can be accessible to all sectors ofsociety. This assistance focuses particularlyon the establishment and strengtheningof low-cost network systems andon the training of users and systems managers. CABECA workswith 20 African countries, establishing new nodesand strengthening existing ones. C ABECA’slatestproject is takingplace in Chad,with the development of a nodethat was the® rst inthe country. Fidosystems havemainly been used with the establishment of UUCP systems wherepossible. PADIS resides in UNECA headquartersin Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, whichcontrols the PADISNET nodethat connects on demand to Accra, London, Nairobi,Johannesburg and Washington.

RINAF

TheRegional Informatic Network for Africa ( RINAF)projectwas conceived withinthe framework of the Intergovernmental Informatics Programme ( IIP) of UNESCO and® nancedby the Italian Government. The technical management is providedby the CNUCE (CentroNazionale Universitario di Calcolo Elettronico) inPisa, Italy. Theobjective of this project is tofacilitate exchanges between academic and research sectors inAfricaand the international scienti® c community.The project providesbasic services toseveral African countries by creating ® veregional nodesin Algeria,Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Zambia and 10 nationalnodes in Cameroon,Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Swazi- land,Tanzania and Tunisia. Severalnetworking technologies are usedfor this project. The goal is notto focuson a speci®c typeof architecture but rather to adapt to theconditions and stateof linesand telecommunication systems. UUCP, Fido and TCP/IP will then be usedunequally.

RIO

Firstnamed the Re Âseau Informatiquede l’ ORSTOM’ s, RIO becamethe Re Âseau Intertropicald’ Ordinateursin 1992. ORSTOM decidedto share itsnetwork with all theparticipants in research anddevelopment. An of® cial agreement is proposed toinstitutions who want to join the network. ORSTOM has becomethe main partnerof a networkfor the research, academic and development sectors. RIO answers theneeds of scienti® c andtechnical communications in Franco- phoneAfrica and prevents it from being isolated from the `information high- 887 OLIVIER COEUR DEROY way’ . The RIO networkis basedon Unix,Ethernet, TCP/IP and UUCP technologies. Users of RIO are mainlyresearchers (500in sub-Saharan Africa) in the ® eldsof naturalsciences, life and human sciences, managers of development projects, andcomputer specialists. The RIO networkis orientatedtowards the main themes of research in developingcountries: agriculture, health, environment and education. To set up itsnetwork, ORSTOM worksin association with engineering schools and the scienti®c departmentsof universities. Several organisations are sharingthe RIO infrastructure,such as theConference of AfricanAgronomic Managers ( CORAF), theObservatory of Saharaand Sahel ( OSS),theFood and Agriculture Organiza- tions,Pasteur Institutes, the African Committee for Research inComputing (CARI).Seventyinstitutions located in 12 countries take part in the development andgrowth of the RIO network.These countries are Senegal,Mali, Co Ãted’Ivoire, BurkinaFaso, Niger, Cameroon, Madagascar, the Seychelles, Kenya, Guinea and Togo.

SustainableDevelopment Network

TheSustainable Developmen tNetworkingProgramme( SDNP)was initiated bythe United Nations within the framework of the UN DevelopmentPro- grammein 1992 with 12 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The programmeis mainly,but not entirely limited to NGOsandbased on FidoNet technology. Theprogramme emphasises theimportance of sharinginformation at all levels ofsociety in developing countries. Access toinformation sources bydecision makers andby different members ofsociety is theessential element in under- standingand furthering the concept of sustainable development. Thisaccess is,however, limited in developingcountries and ® ndingimportant informationconcerning the environment and development is dif®cult. Moreover, access toinformationis limitedto certainsectors. In general,governments have preferentialpositions that allow them to receiveupdated information on development.Many decision makers are notable to receive updated information to initiateand begin new policies. Other sectors ofsociety, such as the NGOs, the academicsector and national companies, have an even more restricted and limitedaccess toinformation. The SDN approachis particularlyinteresting because it impliesdeep and strong participationamong the countries concerned. The programme is basedon the followingprinciples:

±participationof allsectors ofsociety (government, academic, NGOs, companies, etc); ±partnership:research ofnational partners; ±appropriatetechnology: the technologies provided to the participating countriesare adaptedand appropriate to existinginfrastructures and human resources; ±nationalownership of the project; ±encouragementof the creation of a nationalbody of experts. 888 INTERNET ACTIVITIES INADEVELOPING ENVIRONMENT

SNDP has 16workingnodes in developingcountries today. The African countries whichbene® t fromthe SNDP initiativesare Angola(Fido/ UUCP),Chad,Morocco andTunisia. Other initiatives have been developed with feasibility studies in Cameroon,Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia.

UniNet-ZA Thisproject began in 1987 under the management of Rhodes University (Ghahamstow,South Africa). UniNet is anetworkdedicated to research andthe academicsector. It tries to develop, organise and promote a computernetwork adaptedto and thus compatible with internet standards, available to every researcher,professor and student in South Africa. Uninetis notlimited to South Africa as itencourages neighbouring countries toconnect to the internet with technical assistance. The UniNet network links Botswana,Lesotho, Malawi, Maurice Island, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland andZimbabwe. Connections with these countries are achievedusing essential UUCP technology.UniNet is anextension of the South African internet network toneighbouring countries. UniNetis nowfully integrated with the internet, with a digitalleased line connectionfrom Rhodes University to Washington DC andlocal connections with all IP commercialnetworks in South Africa. All internet services (email,ftp, newsfeed, remote log-in) are available.Users can® ndftp mirror sites (ftp.sun.ac.za),archie server (archie.uct.ac.za)and an internet gateway by UUCP dial-up(kudu.ru.ac.za). Thisdescription of Africannetworks is notexhaustive. We are notreviewing theprivate networks of organisations such as theWorld Bank (All in One), the UnitedNations Development Programme ( UNPD)andthe US Agencyfor Inter- nationalDevelopment ( USAID),etc,which are ratherinternal communication tools.All networks presented above are importanttechnical achievements currentlyavailable in Africa. They bring together a widevariety of users and pointthe way towards the information superhighway.

Obstacles andbarriers tothe developmentof electronic communication networksin Africa Theexchange of information is the® rst objectivein the process ofconnecting tothe internet. Countries must accept the propagation of information and informationsources, national and international. Beyond the language barrier, the internetraises importantcultural issues. Theinternet is anopen environment, a windowthrough which users are intouch with the rest of`the world. This means thatsome elementsof informationrelated to theculture of some countriesmight offendeither the religious or political agenda of some governmentsand be unacceptablefor individuals themselves. Such an environment generates a type ofresistance towards this new information and communication technology. Nevertheless,these elements should not be thereason for overegulation of or restrictedaccess tocommunication or information dissemination technology. Appropriatemeasures shouldbe taken to avoid `culture shocks’ via electronic networks.Training and consultation should also be applied to demonstrate the 889 OLIVIER COEUR DEROY bene®ts ofsharing information and communication in societies that lack this `informationexchange culture’ . Thesecond dif® culty concerns the inadaptatability of the infrastructure. In mostAfrican countries, the telecommunications infrastructure is sloweddown anddelays the development of the internet. `What is reallylacking in African telecommunicationsis¼ thebasic network infrastructure upon which telecom- municationsservices canbe developed’. 6 Scientists,researchers, andthe general populationin mostAfrican countries face andmust cope with power outage and surge,unreliable telephone circuits when available, low availability of high bandwidthand digital systems, etc. However,poor infrastructure and technology are notan insurmountable barrierin the development of networks and the internet. When terrestrial equipmentis notusable or non-existent, new technologies such as VerySmall ApertureTerminal ( VSAT)andPacket Radio allow connection to electronic networks.7 Terrestrialpacket radio allows the communication of two computers viaradio. Remote stations can form a networkthat can be connected to other networks.Packet radio with low-Earth-orbi tsatellitesis anotherattractive technologybecause of the small size andthe low cost of VHF technology.The satellitesstore messages fromground stations and forward them when over a receivingground station. However, the lack of interaction in the collection and distributionof datamakes VSAT technologyanother interesting and practical way oftransmittingdata. VSAT allowsthe purchase of space segmentsand connection tothe internet through internet providers anywhere in the world. 8 Data are transmittedfrom little satellite dishes to data transmission centres via satellites ingeostationary orbit. Thethird element that needs to be addressed is thehuman one. The introductionof new technology has alwaysbrought up important human issues indevelopedand developing countries. Quali® cation and adaptation of individuals are necessary steps inthe development and diffusion of new technologies. Users andfuture users mustbe able to use thenewly received and available information.Africa has thehighest level of illiteracy in the world (over half its population).Human resources are akeyelement in thesustainable development ofcommunications infrastructure and in the success ofeconomies. A large numberof Africancountries has aninsuf® cient pool of experts able to organise anddevelop information systems. Thislack of quali® ed personnel also causes a lackof training of users. Mostof the institutions and professionals involved in the early development ofnetworking in Africa face problemsdealing with the unavailability of local expertise.They recognise that technology, infrastructure and equipment are existingobstacles but add that they are notinsurmountable, particularly with appropriatetraining and management of network projects. 9 Inspite of the highest annual growth rate in 1995 since the beginning of the decade, a GDP of2.3% and despite the fact that several national economies recordeda growthsuperior to the growth of their population for the ® rst time since1970, the African continent faces areductionof its share inworld trade (2.2%in 1995). The ® nancialaspect of network development in Africa is obviouslyan important concern. 890 INTERNET ACTIVITIES INADEVELOPING ENVIRONMENT

Thedevelopmen tandinstallation of new informati ontechnologi es implies alevelof ® nancingthat sometimes goes beyond the available resources ofAfrican countries. Ahmed L aouyane,Director of the Bureau of Dev- elopmentof Telecommun ications( BDT) of the (ITU)sees inthe ® nancial issue ofnetworkingdevelopmentanewtype of cooperationbetween countries ofthe South and countries of the North. This new environmen tgivesrise tonew types of relations, from assistantship to partnership, with greater participationand investment of private companies. However, the examples ofZambia and Ethiopia, among the least developed countries, show that therelationship between economic level and connectivit yis notalways related.The dedication of some individuals, theavailabilit yoffunds and loansand, above all, a changeof perception among political leaders towards theimpact of informatio ntechnologyare essentialelements contributi ngto theappearance and development of electronic networks in the poorest nations. Underlyingallthese problems is thepolitical issue. Many recognise that key problemsare nottechnical, cultural or ® nancial,but lie in political institutions.10 Governments are regularlysetting up obsolete frameworks, over-regu- lation,arti® cially high charges on importedtelecommun icationsequipment and telecommunications.New independent services are notwelcome when telecommunicationsrepresents an important source of revenue and will there- forecontribute to aloss inpro®t. Governmentswhoknow telematics are aware ofthe power of the internet and other networks to publicise and spread sensitiveor embarrassing informatio n.These obstacles make access toinfor- mationand to the development of acquisitions impossible. Some countries needto show a realpolitical disposition to propel their people into this new globalvillage.

Opportunities offeredby information and communication technologies Apoorknowledge of the possibilities and opportunities offered by information andcommunication technologies often produces the argument that puts com- municationinfrastructures in second place in development programmes and claimsthat Africa has otherpriorities. If onetakes into account the characteris- ticsof the global economy and of the most active societies in world trade, one sees theessential role of thesetechnologies in social and economic development inall countries. Thisessential role is noticedin awidevariety of sectors suchas government, research,education, health, statistics, agriculture, natural resources, development,planning, telecommunications, economy, cooperation and international organisations.The following sections highlight the effects ofthesetechnologies inthe research, education and health sectors.

Research Electronicnetworks allow Africa access toinformation that was notpreviously 891 OLIVIER COEUR DEROY availableon the continent. Databases, centres for scienti® c documentationand publicationscan be browsed, searched, etc. The best libraries in the world are thenavailable with a fewkeystrokes, from any location on Earth, allowing the acquisition,use andexchange of information. Theissue doesn’t onlyconcern access toinformation outside the African continentbut deals with the control and production of African data in Africa. Thesenetworks permit African scientists to repatriate an important volume of dataand analysis originally obtained from African sources thathave accumu- latedin research centresand libraries in countries of the North. This technology makes possiblethe creation and development of structuredinformation, with the creationof directoriesand indexes of workssuch as theIndex to South African Periodicals. Withthis tool, a largenumber of scientistsand African researchers canmake theirwritings known and distribute them electronically. In this case electronic communicationnetworks permit acknowledgement of African scienti® c production,contributing to the emergence of an African scienti® c community. Inresearch centres(but not only in this sector), the internet is usedas a supportfor international discussion (forums on development and environment), andas acommunicationtool between researchers (writingof articles, exchange ofbibliographicinformation, fast distributionof questionsand answers, newslet- ters andrequest for information). Thereciprocity in these `new’ exchanges and contacts facilitate a breakdown ofthe isolation from which researchers andAfrican teachers are suffering,and stopsthe `brain drain’ phenomenon, the emigration of intellectuals and other intelligentminds to thecountries of theNorth. With these technologies, they can betterparticipate in scienti® c exchangesbetween African regions, northern countriesand international organisations, strengthening their participation in worldactivities. The network becomes a placeto meet where different institutionsand different competences exchange information and ideas, facilitating collaborationbetween development professionals.

Health Thehealth sector will also take advantage of these new communication tools. Wheredistance and isolation of population are predominantin Africa, applica- tionsof telematicsin telemedecineand healthcare services willimprove services topatients and will provide a betterand more effective way to control the cost oftheseservices. Patients and professionals and isolated medical and health staff willbe able to receive and have access toinformation and consultation. The followingshows some oftheservices availablewith the emergence of thesenew technologies: ±telediagnosticsby specialists; ±access tomedical knowledge databases; ±liaisonsbetween medical centres and patients; ±developmentof medicalinformation systems allowinga bettermanagement andtherefore an improvement of health administrations; 892 INTERNET ACTIVITIES INADEVELOPING ENVIRONMENT

±access tointernational organisations (e.g. the World Health Organization); ±creationand installation of alert and warning systems.

Education Networksallow the contribution of new educational sources, such as database searchingfor class material,of discussionsand exchanges between students and teachersin the same countryor in another country, either in Paris, Tokyo or Dakar,i.e. the development of remote education. These new technologies alreadyhave an important educational role in Africa, where schools and the educationsystem are incrisis andwhere the level of teachingis necessarilylow. Thesetechnologies are changingand challenging the ways of learning, and the acquisitionof knowledge becomes more dynamic, creative, universal, electronic andinteractive. Thedevelopment of electronic networks is preparingthe African nations to reactand to participatemore actively in thefast changingworld economy where the¯ owof free informationand of ideas is importantand in¯ uences all sectors ofdevelopment and society.

Themultiplication ofnetworking initiatives fora connectedAfrica Networkingdevelopment projects and other information technologies come from threedifferent horizons: the commercial sector, the international institutions and Africaitself and are orientatedtowards the same objective:to bring Africa into theinformation age to stimulate development and economic expansion.

Commercialprojects Commercialprojects use twotypes of technology: satellites and ® breoptic cables.A largenumber of geostationary satellites and low-Earth orbit satellites are launchedto provide global coverage, remote personal communications, low-costtelephone and global internet services. Among the different satellite projects,we should mention Motorola’ s Iridium,Globalstar from Loral and Qualcomm,Teledesic from Microsoft and McCaw and Spaceway from Hughes Communications. Amongthe projects using ® breoptic cable, AT&T’ sAfricaOne has beenthe mostpublicised. Africa One is AT&T’sprojectto encircle the continent with a ®breoptic cable network. Africa One is aprojectof the ITU, RASCOM, The Pan AfricanTelecommunications Union ( PATU), ATT andAlcatel. A 32000-kilometer submarinecable will ring the African continent from the Mediterranean Sea aroundCape Horn and up to the Red Sea. The cable will ultimately provide a 2.5gigabits/ slinkto 41coastalnations, Italy and Saudi Arabia. The second step ofthe project will try to link all African nations through the development of a regionalnetwork that will integrate the existing infrastructure. The third step of theproject will connect the ® breoptic cable to the information superhighway. Amongother ® breoptic cable developments, one can enumerate the Ninex Flagproject between Japan and Europe that will make Egypt a landingpoint, 893 OLIVIER COEUR DEROY andAlcaltel’ s Sea-Me-We2 betweenAsia and Europe. Alcatel is alsoplanning asecond® breoptic cable from France to Morocco and then down to Cape Town,connecting 16 nations. Telkom South Africa is alsoplanning the developmentof a ®breoptic cable ( SAFE)betweenIndia and South Africa. AfriLink (Siemens)will link all countries between Senegal, South Africa, Europe and the USA. Theseprojects undertaken by multinational companies will certainly improve connectionsbetween the African continent and the rest ofthe world and above allwill facilitate intra-regional connections by cooperating with existing African structures(see below).However, these projects, alone cannot be the perfect answerto Africanneeds and the continent’ s environment(human and technical). Theequipment and material used in theseprojects are fromcountries outside the Africancontinent where technical evolution has beenfar toofast forthis environment.Commercial networks won’ tbotherreaching an isolated population ifthis implies making investments without ® nancialreturn. Theseinitiatives will be a success forthe African continent only if they are combinedwith initiatives from international organisations, African governments andindividuals who take into account the African environment and give preferenceto the sustainable development of information and communication technologies.

Internationalorganisations/ governments Therole of the major international organisations comes ata timewhen informationtechnology is recognisedby these institutions as amajorkey in the developmentprocess, as valuableas anyagriculture, irrigation or healthproject. Thisawareness becameapparent in 1985 when the Maitland Commission 12 presentedthe Missing Link report highlighting the signi® cant role of telecommu- nicationsin thesocioeconomic development of countries,regions and continents ofthe world. TheWorld Bank is playinga majorrole in the dissemination of information technologyby providing funding and training under the Information for Devel- opment(InfoDev) programme. The programme aims toshow governments and decisionmakers theeconomic impact of communication and information dis- seminationtechnologies, to providetraining and grants with funds. The objective is tohelp developing countries fully integrate into the information economy. ITU has createdWorldTel, a ®nancingprogramme or development fund with theobjective of helping developing countries build telecommunications net- worksby mobilising private investment. According to Pekka Tarjanne, The SecretaryGeneral of ITU,theproject will raise $500million from private and publicsources. More precisely, funds will be dedicated to countries with a 1% telephonepenetration rate. USAID’sLelandInitiative tries to bring the advantages and bene® ts ofthe globalinformation revolution to African populations via connection to the internetand other technologies of theglobal information infrastructure ( GII). The projectpresents an approach based on public and private partnership between the USAandAfrica to bring full connection to 20 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. 894 INTERNET ACTIVITIES INADEVELOPING ENVIRONMENT

Theobjectives of the Leland Initiative will be reached with the creation of a propitiousenvironment for the construction of a communicationsinfrastructure, forthe development of asustainableindustry of internetaccess providersand for theimprovement of applications for users. Initiativesfrom the group of seven most developed countries (G-7) include projectsin education and training for management of the environment and naturalresources withparticular attention to less developedcountries, sponsor- inga conferenceheld in South Africa in May 1996 on the information society anddevelopment. The initiatives of international organisations and of developed countriesdemonstrate the importance of informationtechnology as adeveloping toolin an increasingly information-depen dentworld. This also reveals the need toclosethe gap between connected and non-connected countries and information `have’and `have-nots’ . Theinternational community’ s initiativesshould not, however,prevent African nations from developing more indigenous projects themselves.

Indigenousinitiatives Themore encouraging initiatives are comingfrom African countries themselves. Encouragingbecause it is recognisedthat, to reach the development of sustain- ablenetworks, commitment from the bene® ciary countries of international aids anddonors is necessary. 13 `Aninternational effort led by the Africans is now underway’,14 aneffort that will help their leaders to be aware of the impact of electronicnetworks and information technology on the development of their countries. Thiseffort is illustratedby themeasures takenby Africanleaders in May 1995 at the UNECA Conferenceof African Ministers Responsible for Economics and SocialDevelopment and Planning. A resolutionentitled `Building the Infor- mationHighway in Africa’ was signedby the ministers, who are focusingtheir attentionon the African information superhighway as atoolfor planning and decisionmaking via the building of national information and communication networksand the creation of groupof Africanexperts, the High Level Working Groupon Information and Telecommunications Technologies. 15 Managed by PATU,whichwas foundedin 1977, the Panaftel initiative offers Africansa telecommunicationsinfrastructure or network dedicated to intra- Africantraf® c. Panaftel countries are upgradingtheir systems independently, theyinclude Senegal, Mali, Togo and Benin, while several African nations are upgradingtheir system via® breoptic cable. ITU is providingsome assistance but mostof the impetus is comingfrom the countries themselves. These changes are encouragingas theytake the form of a greaterutilisation of regional transit centresand a greatercommitment by African nations to the development of electronicnetworks. RASCOM is apan-Africansatellite organisation dedicated to providing Africa withits own satellite for relaying telephone, data and TV signals.The primary objectivesof thisproject were to providetelecommunications services toremote ruralareas. The RASCOM initiativeemphasises aregionalapproach to the developmentof telecommunications, building a networkof African nations to 895 OLIVIER COEUR DEROY createa marketand a demandable to attract regional and internatio nal investors. Finally,several countries are takinga voluntaristicapproach in terms of democratisationand reform of the telecommunications sector. These changes allowgreater participation of the private sector, the privatisation of companies andthe opening of the national market to competition, the separation of postal services andtelecommunications services, the creation of regulatory organisations,etc. Such measures andplans have been unveiled in Cameroon, Cape Verde,Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Senegal and Tanzania. Deregulation plans are not alwaysso clear. One needs to be careful with these plans that may be used strategicallyto receivefunds from international institutions, thus not showing the truemotivations of the countries. Thepanorama of internet projects and of other information and communicationtechnologies is notlimited to the one presented below. Among these Africanprojects, we may note:

±theSpecial Initiative on Africa from the Secretary General of the United Nations; ±theAfrican Networking Initiative ( ANI) with UNESCO, ITU, IDRC and UNECA; ±theAfrican Internet Forum ( AIF); ± UNCTAD’sTradePointinitiatives receiving ® nancialhelp from the European Unionto the tune of 30 million ECU forthe development of local commercialnetworks in Africa; ±theInterAfrique programme in Africa (Internet en Afrique) in which severalorganisations of technical and scienti® c cooperationthe UN Insti- tutefor Training and Research ( UNITAR), ORSTOM, OSS)undertaketo pro- motethe development of national networks linking the majority of institutionsand projects producing or using technical and scienti® c information; ± the AUPELF-UREF ssettingup of information servers inFrancophone Africa via REFER and SYFED projects.16

Thelist of projects is long.This profusion of networking projects orientated towardsAfrica reveals a lackof telecommunication infrastructure and of informationtechnologies in mostof theAfrican countries, mainly in sub-Saharan countries.The attention of allthese organisations demonstrates the need to close thegap between connected and non-connected countries, between countries whichare ableto obtainand diffuse information and ones which are completely isolated,information- and communication-wise. Themessage ofall institutions and other organisations involved in developmentprogrammes emphasises theurgency of providing Africa with ways to enterand participate in the world economy, where information and communicationtechnologies are afactorof economic development. However, the large numberof projects raises questionsregarding the duplication of effort. These projectsmight bring together different systems thatcannot interconnect ef® ciently.Close collaboration between these projects is stronglyrecommended andnecessary. This collaboration could be achieved, as suggestedby an ANI 896 INTERNET ACTIVITIES INADEVELOPING ENVIRONMENT report,by the creation of an African Internet Society, a clearinghouseon all networkingdevelopment programmes, achieved or in progress.

Conclusion Theinitiatives and resolutions taken by the different academic and research institutions,governments, NGOsandby privatecompanies show the fundamental roleof informationand networking communication technologies in the developmentof oursocial, cultural and economic environment. These technologies have becomeessential in theacquisition of knowledge,the exchange of ideasand the developmentof individuals and societies. In a globaleconomy based more and moreon knowledge, and in an information age society, technologies of informationdiffusion become as importantas anyproject dedicated to health, educationand research. These projects, and the sustainable development of Africancountries, can be achievedwith the creation of communicationnetworks whichprovide a wayto spread and share vitalinformation in all sectors of society. Thisarticle has presentedthe advantages and opportunities offered to the Africancontinent by thedevelopment of atelecommunicationsinfrastructure and bytechnologiesof informationdiffusion. However, one should not think of these technologiesas apanacea,the solution to allthe problems of developingnations. Thesetechnologies are onlya toolof development, fundamental and indispens- able,that will provide the continent with more resources andef® ciencyin its developmentprogrammes and will allow it to play an active role in a global economy,stressing the vital need to connectdeveloping countries to the internet inorder to achieve a trueglobal information infrastructure. These technological developmentsin networking and communication infrastructure are nota lux- uryÐthey are apriorityfor Africa as theycomprise considerable and tangible stakes: stakes ofpower, because nowadays being on the information highway givespower, economic stakes becauseof the huge investments involved with newinformation technologies; technological stakes inthe choices being made overinfrastructure and methods of connection in Africa; and stakes inthe research sectorto develop the new information technologies according to the priorities,needs and expectations of the African continent.

Notes Fora complete bibliographyof on-line references concerningnew informationand communication technologyin Africa, Iwouldlike to mention a projectthat I am developing,entitled `New Informationand CommunicationTechnology in Africa: ABibliographyof On-lineReferences’ .Theproject is developedand hostedat theUnited Nations Trade PointDevelopment Center. The URL ofthe Web site is:http:/ / www.untpdc.org/untpdc/incubator/africa/biblio.html. 1 Teledensity 5 thenumber of phone lines per 100 inhabitants. 2 OCrepin-Leblond,`International E-mail accessibility’ ,Release 97.03.04.Available online at: http:// www.ee.ic.ac.uk/misc/country-codes.html. 3 TCP/IP 5 TransmissionControl Protocol/ InternetProtocol. It is acommunicationprotocol that connects differentsystems tothe internet. 4 OCreurde Roy & OPresno(eds), ReÂussiravec Internet ,Paris:Ellipses, 1997. 897 OLIVIER COEUR DEROY

5 ORSTOM is theFrench Institute of Scienti® c Research forDevelopment in Cooperation. 6 JJipguep,`The role of telecommunications in the economic integration of Africa’ ,available onlineat: http://www.itu.ch/itudoc/osg/jjspeech/ivoryc1e 6054.txt,(June 1993). 7 GGarriott,Packet Radioin Earth and space environmentsfor relief anddevelopment, paper presented to the34th Annual Meeting of the African StudiesAssociation, St Louis, MO, 23± 26 November 1991, availableonline at:ftp:/ /155.135.1.1/vita/packetradio.txt. 8 MSchlegel,`Fostering brain drain’ , availableonline at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African Studies/Arti- cles Gen/BrainDrain.html (1994). 9 PKnight,`The telematics revolutionin Africa andthe World Bank group, paper presented to AFRIS- TECH95,Symposium on Information Superhighways: What strategy for Africa?, Dakar, 12±15 December 1995,available onlineat: http:///www.worldbank.org/html/emc/documents/afrirev.html. 10 THall, Àddishosts historic superhighway conference, butwill policymakers go with the vision?’ , paper presentedto the Symposium on African Telematics, Ethiopia,3± 7 April1995, available online at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African Studies/Padis/telmtcs Hall.html;Knight, `The telematics revolutionin Africa’ ;andE. WilsonIII, Àfrica andthe global information infrastructure’ , available onlineat: http://www.us.net/afcom/welcome/gii.html,document not dated. 11 PRenaud& ATorres,Ìnternet, une chance pourle sud, Le MondeDiplomatique ,availableonline at: http://www.ina.fr/CP/MondeDiplo/1996/02/internet.html,February 1996. 12 TheMaitland Commission is aninternational committee oftelecommunication experts developed in 1983 by the ITU. 13 EBaranshamaje et al,Ìncreasinginternet connectivity in sub-Saharan Africa. Issues, optionsand World BankGroup role’ , draftdocument, 29 March1995, available online at: http://www.worldbank.org/html/emc/ documents/africa0395.html,March 1995. 14 Knight,`The telematics revolutionin Africa’ . 15 Ibid. 16 AUPELF-UREF istheAssociation of FrenchSpeaking Universities and the University of Networks of French Expression; REFER (ReÂseau ElectroniqueFrancophone d’ Information)is theFrancophone Electronic Network ofInformation; and SYFED (SysteÁme Francophoned’ Editionet deDiffusion)is theFrancophone System of Editionand Diffusion.

Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations

EDITORS John L. Esposito and Jù rgen S. Nielsen

Islam and Christian Muslim Relations (ICMR) was launched in June 1990 and has been hailed by scholars of Islam, Christianity and religion in general, as well as by social scientists, educationists, community and religious leaders.

ICMR provides a forum for all those who wish to enhance their critical appreciation of the two religious traditions on historical, empirical, ideological and theoretical issues. Since its new partnership with the Center for Muslim- Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, Washington DC commenced in 1996, the journal has broadened its scope to encompass issues concerning Christian-Muslim relations in politics and international affairs. Volume 8, 1997, 3 issues. ISSN 0959-6410 .

Carfax Publishing Company PO Box 25 · Abingdon · Oxfordshire OX14 3UE · UK Tel: +44 (0)1235 521154 · Fax: +44 (0)1235 401550 E-mail: [email protected] · WWW: http://www.carfax.co.uk

898