La gouvernance discutable de l’UITLe projet Africa ONE comme exemple

Abstract

The lack of infrastructures dramatically handicaps Africa. As far as telecommunications are concerned, noticeable progress was registered during the 1970-1990 decades under the auspices of ITU. But the neoliberal dogma endorsed by the ITU as soon as 1990 has completely changed the networks development paradigm. The Africa ONE Project was a first illustration of this change, and has clearly shown this drift of the ITU. The ten years long chaotic project management ended in a lamentable failure. The neoliberal approach that the ITU imposed to its Member states lead to an unbridled deregulation, without any preliminary study. The “rule of the market” shows the African coasts flooded with submarine cables, anarchically deployed without any network vision. Terrestrial links follow the same rule : competition arises a multiplicity of links on profitable segments. These excessive investments squander billions Euros with the support of international “development” constituencies. For putting an end to this drift of the ITU initiated by Africa ONE, the author concludes by appealing this UN agency to refocusing its activities and strategy on its fundamental principles, in particular being more effectivevely committed in deploying networks in developing countries. At last, the ITU should open itself to the civil society, vouching for the transparency needed in its future governance.

Keywords

• Africa
• Africa ONE
• IUT
• governance
• telecommunications
• WSIS