ICANN again intervenes to defend AFRINIC

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has again intervened in the affairs of the African Network Information Centre (AFRINIC), the regional internet registry for 54 nations across Africa and the Indian Ocean. AFRINIC's home is the island nation of Mauritius, where the Supreme Court recently issued an order [PDF] allowing ICANN to become a party to an application to wind up the registry. AFRINIC has a long history of turmoil, some related to internal corruption. Most of its troubles in the last five years relate to a long and complex dispute with one of its members, a company called Cloud Innovation. The dispute saw AFRINIC placed in receivership. The registry's receiver eventually ordered fresh elections for AFRINIC. That poll took place in June 2025. After allegations that some proxy votes were cast on behalf of some AFRINIC members without their consent or knowledge, the committee overseeing the poll suspended voting - and later annulled the election. As the peak governance body for unique internet identifiers - domain names and IP addresses - ICANN has oversight of AFRINIC. After the annulment, ICANN intervened with a letter to AFRINIC's receiver warning that the election could be grounds for it to review whether AFRINIC is compliant with its mandate. Cloud Innovation reacted to ICANN's letter with an announcement that it would commence legal action aimed at dissolving AFRINIC as a corporate entity and transitioning its responsibilities to a more trusted framework." That action is now ongoing. ICANN again stepped in, with a letter [PDF] to the IT Minister of Mauritius that rejects dissolving AFRINIC as an appropriate course of action. The global regulator has now intervened again by successfully applying to become a party to Cloud Innovation's attempt to dissolve AFRINIC. An ICANN spokesperson explained its decision to seek standing in Cloud Innovation's attempt to wind up AFRINIC as follows: Our purpose in seeking to intervene is to ensure that the Court has a proper understanding of AFRINIC's unique role and of the nature of the resources it administers. We also wish to make clear that the numbering resources allocated through AFRINIC are not assets of AFRINIC, and therefore cannot properly be treated as assets available for distribution in a winding-up." Amin Dayekh, a Nigeria-based network engineer and internet governance activist, welcomed ICANN's intervention. The cavalry has arrived," he wrote in a recent commentary. A Regional Internet Registry is not an ordinary company. Its legal personality may be local, but its function is systemic. When such an institution is pulled toward liquidation, receivership, or resource destabilisation, the issue is no longer confined to the parties before the Court. The Court is being asked to look at a local legal vessel carrying a global public function." Dayekh said ICANN being allowed to participate in this case matters because it will ensure that the Court sees the registry before it sees only the company. ICANN's role is to clarify, not command; to protect continuity, not occupy authority; to explain the public coordination function, not politicise the judicial process." A new front and a takedown order AFRINIC and Cloud Innovation are also tangling in another matter, which started with the May 7th publication of a press release by Larus Limited, a Hong-Kong-based IPv4 leasing company. In the press release, Larus announced the launch of a First-Party IPv4 Leasing Platform Backed by a Court-Ordered Shareholder-Position Continuity Structure." Larus's announcement says Cloud Innovation operates as the registry-side shareholder-position spine, while Larus serves as the customer-facing first-party IPv4 leasing platform." Cloud Innovation and Larus share a CEO: entrepreneur and internet governance activist Lu Heng. On May 9th, AFRINIC issued a Communique that states AFRINIC wishes to make it clear that the Court Order dated 11 June 2025 did not establish, approve, recognise, or create any such Court-Ordered Shareholder-Position Continuity Structure' in relation to AFRINIC." A second AFRINIC Communique, issued on On May 15, states that the Supreme Court of Mauritius later issued an interim order that ordered Cloud Innovation and its affiliates and/or subsidiaries, officers, agents, preposes, representatives, whether directly or indirectly from issuing, publishing, disseminating or causing to be disseminated, any publication, representation or statement which falsely attributes to the Supreme Court of Mauritius, any judicial approval, endorsement or validation of the leasing or commercialisation of AfriNIC-allocated IP resources." The interim order includes a requirement to take down any publication, statement or representation suggesting, implying or stating that the Supreme Court of Mauritius has allegedly sanctioned, endorsed, approved or authorised the leasing, monetisation, transfer and/or commercial exploitation of IP address resources allocated by the applicant [AFRINIC]." Cloud Innovation and Larus have both criticized the order, which they say misrepresents the relationship between the two companies, and their activities. LARUS has never claimed that the Supreme Court of Mauritius approved, endorsed, sanctioned, or authorised any LARUS customer product, IPv4 leasing product, monetisation model, transfer, or commercial contract," a Larus spokesperson told The Register. Cloud Innovation told us it has not been formally served with the alleged interim order or underlying papers referred to in AFRINIC's communique. Our first awareness of the matter came from AFRINIC's public communications and media circulation. We therefore do not accept AFRINIC's characterisation of the document or the surrounding facts." It is not a final judgment. It does not decide whether IPv4 leasing is lawful. It does not decide IP ownership. It does not reverse Cloud Innovation's register/member position. It does not determine any Larus business model," the company told us by email. Enter the mysterious NRS Mysterious internet governance lobby group the Number Resource Society (NRS) has also weighed into the matter with a lengthy critique that addresses the same matters Larus and Cloud Innovation touched on in their emails to The Register. That critique also mentions a matter related to AFRINIC's recent call for community participation in a review of its bylaws. One of the entities considering AFRINIC's bylaws is the South African Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA). In an email dated May 8, NRS alleged that ISPA has created a draft of new bylaws that would take away the rights that make you a real AFRINIC member". An ISPA spokesperson shared the response it sent to its own members regarding NRS's email. It opens: By now, AFRINIC members should all be aware of the dubious reputation of NRS and know that any communication issued by that organisation is likely to be substantially untethered from facts." ISPA does not have a bylaw plan,'" the response to members explains. ISPA requested that its Mauritian legal team review the current AFRINIC Bylaws and highlight all of the areas where they conflict with Mauritian company law." The result of that scrutiny was a finding that AFRINIC Resource Members - organizations to which AFRINIC assigned IP addresses and ASNs - are not Registered Members of AFRINIC under Mauritian law. This dissonance effectively means that many of the rights provided to Resource Members under the Bylaws can be legally challenged in Mauritius," the ISPA response to members states. Indeed, a number of the legal cases brought against AFRINIC over the past decade hinge on the fact that the Mauritian Companies Act limits many governance functions to Registered Members." ISPA's proposal is to amend AFRINIC bylaws to make it clear that only the directors of AFRINIC are Registered Members of the organisation, as well as introducing Community Resolutions as a mechanism for ensuring that resource members can still participate in AFRINIC governance. This is one approach to resolving the problem, and ISPA freely acknowledges that it has both pros and cons." NRS responded to ISPA's statement with further criticism and by calling for the formation of a new body to represent AFRINIC members. A hearing on the takedown order will take place on May 28. AFRINIC's bylaws consultation continues and Cloud Innovation's application to dissolve the registry continues to make its way through Mauritian courts. And The Register will keep watching. (R)