Friday, June 25, 2004
African ministers fear losing control of IT fund
By Rebecca Wanjiku, Highway Africa News Agency (HANA)
YASMINE HAMMAMET, TUNISIA. June 25, 2004 African ministers attending the first preparatory committee (PrepCom) of the World Summit on Information Society have expressed fear of losing control of the Digital
Solidarity Fund (DSF) to the civil society organisations.
The DSF is being set up with the aim of broadening access to information technologies to impoverished areas throughout the world. It was hotly debated during the Prepcoms held before the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva last December.
At a meeting held on the sidelines of the current PrepCom n Tunisia, the African ministers and government officials met and strategised on how to ensure governments remain in control of the DSF.
Their fear stems from the enthusiasm expressed by several European local governments for funding the DSF as a vehicle of bridging the digital divide. Cities such as Lyon, Paris, Geneva and Bilbao, as well as the Basque province in Spain have committed themselves to the cause.
Mamadou Diop, Senegalese minister of information and Pan African Cooperation said that such enthusiasm may lead to the money being channeled through the civil society instead of governments who initially proposed the fund.
“The cities may give funding through companies and other organizations. We must have a common strategy, should be more united and have a common stand,” he said.
Diop was briefing the ministers on the developments following meetings in New York and Dakar. He also disclosed that the local government of Washington DC may soon join the European cities in supporting the fund.
The meeting of African ministers, chaired by Adama Samassekou, chair of the Prepcoms held in Geneva ahead of the first phase of WSIS, resolved that African governments have to give the DSF a push by identifying experts within their own counties who can work on elements of the program.
Samassekou said that the Economic Commission of Africa (ECA) had gathered a group of experts in Addis Ababa to discuss and formulate a
concrete document on the DSF.
The meeting expressed optimism that by the time the regional WSIS meeting is held in Ghana in February next year, there will be some progress on the
conceptual framework of the DSF.
“We hope that the DSF document will be one of the fundamental documents to come out of the Tunis phase of WSIS. We need to give it all our support,” said Samassekou.
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By Rebecca Wanjiku, Highway Africa News Agency (HANA)
YASMINE HAMMAMET, TUNISIA. June 25, 2004 African ministers attending the first preparatory committee (PrepCom) of the World Summit on Information Society have expressed fear of losing control of the Digital
Solidarity Fund (DSF) to the civil society organisations.
The DSF is being set up with the aim of broadening access to information technologies to impoverished areas throughout the world. It was hotly debated during the Prepcoms held before the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva last December.
At a meeting held on the sidelines of the current PrepCom n Tunisia, the African ministers and government officials met and strategised on how to ensure governments remain in control of the DSF.
Their fear stems from the enthusiasm expressed by several European local governments for funding the DSF as a vehicle of bridging the digital divide. Cities such as Lyon, Paris, Geneva and Bilbao, as well as the Basque province in Spain have committed themselves to the cause.
Mamadou Diop, Senegalese minister of information and Pan African Cooperation said that such enthusiasm may lead to the money being channeled through the civil society instead of governments who initially proposed the fund.
“The cities may give funding through companies and other organizations. We must have a common strategy, should be more united and have a common stand,” he said.
Diop was briefing the ministers on the developments following meetings in New York and Dakar. He also disclosed that the local government of Washington DC may soon join the European cities in supporting the fund.
The meeting of African ministers, chaired by Adama Samassekou, chair of the Prepcoms held in Geneva ahead of the first phase of WSIS, resolved that African governments have to give the DSF a push by identifying experts within their own counties who can work on elements of the program.
Samassekou said that the Economic Commission of Africa (ECA) had gathered a group of experts in Addis Ababa to discuss and formulate a
concrete document on the DSF.
The meeting expressed optimism that by the time the regional WSIS meeting is held in Ghana in February next year, there will be some progress on the
conceptual framework of the DSF.
“We hope that the DSF document will be one of the fundamental documents to come out of the Tunis phase of WSIS. We need to give it all our support,” said Samassekou.
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