[WSIS CS-Plenary] Mali's Hamadoun Toure, new Secretary-General of the ITU

[Nyangkwe Agien Aaron]

Jean Louis, AMEN

Aaron

On 11/15/06, Jean-Louis FULLSACK <jlfullsack at wanadoo.fr> wrote:
>
>
>
> Dear Francis and all
>
> I also congratulate Mr Touré for his election as Secretary general of ITU,
> and I'm happy for my African friends for them to have one of theirs at the
> head of this oldest UN Agency.
>
> However I'd be less enthusiastic as Francis for at least three reasons :
>
> -          Mr Touré was the Director of the Development Bureau of ITU
> (ITU-D) during eight years, and during his mandate most of the insiders and
> observers admit that telecom development in Africa has got more "asymmetric"
> than ever.  Whereas the mobile "market" grew substantially, especially in
> large metropolitan areas, managing even new generation wireless (so called
> 3G wireless) services to be deployed in these privileged areas, the villages
> and largest country areas of the continent still are waiting for their
> hypothetical connection to the ICT/telecom network. What's more, some
> African countries have even declined in terms of telecom services to their
> population ( Central African Republic, DR Congo, etc) during these years. At
> last, the pan-African network Panaftel, established in the eighties for
> interconnecting African countries, steadily declined as did most of the
> fixed terrestrial networks in a large number of African countries.
>
> -          Instead of network development, the priority of ITU-D during Mr
> Touré's mandate was telecom sector "reform", i.e. deregulation following
> –and in some cases even exceeding-  the Worldbank credo and demand. So far
> this "sector reform" didn't prove its efficiency. Moreover, it left some
> African countries in a more critical situation and demonstrated large
> collapses (Guinea, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, …). Who will ever try to appraise
> the huge amount of money lost in this process ?
>
> -          As far as recent African network development is concerned, ITU is
> remarkably absent from both the design devising and the decision making
> processes. This is largely demonstrated in the SAT-3/WASC sub-marine cable,
> the EASSy project, Infinity project, EADTS, etc, but also in major
> countries' ICT/telecoms Master Plans design (Cameroon, DR Congo, …). Here is
> the true place for ITU-D for proving its commitment and its competence for
> actual African telecoms development.
>
> Should I add that during the entire WSIS process, ITU wasn't very "SC
> friendly" and failed to keep the leadership in large debates on how to
> bridge actually the digital divide and how to finance this profound
> injustice.
>
> Therefore; let's keep cool and let the new SG take the most urgent and still
> awaited decisions such as real and concrete actions on bridging the "digital
> divide" ; more than twenty years after the Maitland's Report it is highest
> time to awake in the (ITU) " tower" !  And second, let the new SG take the
> appropriate decisions as soon as possible on an actual CS inclusive ITU,
> especially in the view of implementing the WSIS Action plan objectives and
> its follow-up on a real muliti-stakeholder basis.  For both these issues, I
> simply recall the three proposals CSDPTT submitted to the ITU Council in
> January (in the view of the Plenipotentiary Conference), without any
> reaction nor response of ITU-D since then despite it was in the very centre
> of these proposals.
>
> Best
>
> Jean-Louis Fullsack
>
> CSDPTT - France
>
>
>
>
> > Message du 13/11/06 20:08
> > De : "Dr. Francis MUGUET"
> > A : plenary at wsis-cs.org
> > Copie à :
> > Objet : [WSIS CS-Plenary] Mali's Hamadoun Toure, new Secretary-General of
> the ITU
>
> >
> > [Please note that by using 'REPLY', your response goes to the entire list.
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> >
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> > _______________________________________
> >
> > Dear friends
> >
> > ( un msg en français suit )
> >
> > Since this excellent piece of news has not been seemingly posted
> > on the plenary list.
> > Congratulatiions to first African Secretary-General of the ITU,
> > who, coincidence or fate, belongs to the same country
> > as Adama Samassékou to whom WSIS Civil Society owes so much.
> >
> > ---------------------
> > http://allafrica.com/stories/200611130952.html
> >
> > An African, Mali's Hamadoun Toure, Friday became the new
> > Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
> > after polling 95 votes over Germany's Mr. Mathias Kurth, who got 60
> > votes for the exalted position.
> >
> > Member states of the ITU elected Mr Touré of Mali as Secretary-General
> > for a four-year term. The election took place in Antalya, Turkey during
> > the 17th ITU Plenipotentiary Conference. Mr Touré won the position with
> > 95 votes with 155 countries present and voting, and thus the required
> > majority for election was 78 votes.
> >
> > The majority emerged in the third round of voting, with Mr Mathias Kurth
> > of Germany receiving 60 votes.
> >
> > The election showed the deft diplomacy of Toure who had come to the ITU
> > conference last year in Abuja with one message from the Malian
> > government: "To support the country to run for the highest position at
> > the ITU." Every country-delegate present pledged to support Mali, and by
> > implication, Toure. But that development effectively killed the spirit
> > of every person who would have been eyeing that position and vouchsafed
> > it for Toure. Last weekend, he triumphed.
> >
> > Addressing the Conference after the results of the vote, Mr Touré told
> > the 1500 delegates from around the world that he would work with
> > transparency, objectivity and vigour to realize the two main objectives
> > that were central to his campaign: to eliminate the digital divide and
> > to ensure that cyberspace would become more secure. He said, "The
> > Millennium Development Goals that were endorsed by all the world's
> > leaders as well as the WSIS resolutions are the ingredients we need to
> > get down to work."
> >
> > Mr Hamadoun Touré holds a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering from
> > the Technical Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications of
> > Leningrad and Doctor of Philosophy Degree (PhD) from the University of
> > Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics of Moscow. After six
> > years at the Office des Postes et Télécommunications du Mali (OPT) Mali,
> > he joined Intelsat as Group Director & Regional Director in 1985 until
> > he became Director-General, Africa, of ICO Global Communications in
> > 1996. Elected Director of ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau in
> > 1998, he was elected for a second term in 2002.
> >
> > In the election, Houlin Zhao of China was elected Deputy
> > Secretary-General in the first round with 93 votes. Carlos Sánchez of
> > Spain obtained 34 votes while T. Ayhan Beydoan of Turkey received 28.
> > John Ray Kwabena Tandoh of Ghana had announced the withdrawal of his
> > candidature prior to the start of the election.
> >
> > Thanking the members and, in particular, the People's Republic of China,
> > for placing their confidence in him, Houlin Zhao remarked that the post
> > of Deputy Secretary-General holds a strategic importance in the Union.
> > He said that he would do his best to assist the Secretary-General elect
> > and the three Directors as well as the membership to make ITU a more
> > dynamic organization that would contribute to the emerging global
> > Information Society. As outgoing Director of TSB, he said he was
> > confident that "ITU-T will meet the future challenges of ICT
> > standardization this century."
> >
> > Graduated from Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, China
> > in 1975, Mr Zhao received a Master degree of Science in telematics,
> > University of Essex (United Kingdom) in 1985. From 1975 to 1986, he held
> > various engineering positions at Ministry of Posts and
> > Telecommunications, China. In 1986, he joined ITU as a staff member of
> > the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB) until his election as
> > Director of the TSB in 1998. He was re-elected in his position at the
> > 2002 Marrakesh Plenipotentiary Conference.
> >
> > Outgoing Secretary-General Yoshio Utsumi leaves behind him a more
> > efficient and effective organization, offering a wider portfolio of more
> > relevant services that led to a 19 per cent increase in private sector
> > membership and a recommitment of the private sector to the work of ITU.
> > His tenure was characterized by efficiency measures that led to savings
> > equivalent to CHF 75 million out of a total budget of CHF 335 million on
> > average per biennium as well as the introduction of operational
> > planning, results-based budgeting and time-tracking across the
> > organization, resulting in a substantial overhaul of the organization.
> > Along with cost recovery, these measures created new sources of revenue
> > that led to a reduction in the contributions to be paid by members,
> > despite growing demands and cost increases.
> >
> > From a strategic perspective, Mr Utsumi successfully refocused ITU as a
> > policy-oriented organization by introducing new issues to ensure its
> > continuing relevance, with the successful organization of the World
> > Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) which provides a common
> > understanding and vision as well as a clear roadmap to building the
> > Information Society by 2015. He also strengthened the role of ITU in the
> > coordination of policy issues among Member States. Through this process,
> > ITU has asserted its leading role in the broader domain of the
> > Information Society.
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------
> > Francis F. MUGUET Ph.D
> >
> > MDPI Foundation Open Access Journals
> > Associate Publisher
> > http://www.mdpi.org http://www.mdpi.net
> > muguet at mdpi.org muguet at mdpi.net
> >
> > ENSTA Paris, France
> > KNIS lab. Director
> > "Knowledge Networks & Information Society" (KNIS)
> > muguet at ensta.fr http://www.ensta.fr/~muguet
> >
> > World Summit On the Information Society (WSIS)
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-- 
Aaron Agien Nyangkwe
Journalist/Outcome Mapper
Special Assistant To The President
ASAFE
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