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From Africa Recovery, Vol.17 #4 (Janaury 2004), Briefs page Information summit defers contentious issues Leaders from 176 countries who met for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in December decided to establish a task force to explore setting up a Digital Solidarity Fund to finance the development of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in poor countries. The task force, to be appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan early this year, will review existing mechanisms for financing the development of such technologies and study the feasibility of setting up a fund. Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade has been lobbying for such a fund to bridge the "digital divide" between industrial and developing countries. However, industrial nations oppose the idea of establishing yet another global funding mechanism. The study group will report to the next WSIS summit, to be held in Tunisia in 2005. "We have been given one year to come up with the review, and it is up to us to convince those who don't see the necessity of building the fund, mainly the developed countries, so that we can reach consensus in Tunis in 2005," said Mr. Adama Samassekou, president of the WSIS Preparatory Committee. "Telephones will not feed the poor, and computers will not replace textbooks," International Telecommunication Union Secretary-General Yoshio Utsumi told delegates to the 10-12 December meeting in Geneva. "But ICTs can be used effectively as part of the toolbox for addressing global problems." Management of the Internet was another contentious issue in Geneva. Currently, key decisions on domain names and addresses are made by a private US agency. Concerned about US domination of the medium, a group of developing countries, including South Africa, is lobbying for a neutral body, such as the UN, to be given control over Internet "governance." The WSIS meeting agreed to set up another panel to study the issue and propose a solution to the 2005 summit. Delegates also debated whether governments should support open-source software like Linux over commercial ones like Microsoft's Windows. Mr. Samuel Guimarães, executive secretary in Brazil's foreign ministry, told the meeting that open-source (free-to-share) software is crucial for poorer countries, since it would permit them to freely develop their own technology, instead of purchasing it. Two African projects, Time to Market and the Women of Uganda
Network (WOUGNET) won excellence awards presented to 40 finalists
at the summit. Time to Market uses mobile telephones to provide
market information on agriculture and fisheries in Senegal while
WOUGNET is an online information resource on women's issues. This article may be freely reproduced, with attribution to
"Africa Recovery, United Nations". Africa Recovery Tel: (212) 963-6857
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