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ICANN Accredits First Registrar in Senegal | Only the second Africa-based registrar so far accredited

14 May 2007

MARINA DEL REY, Calif.: The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has signed its first accreditation agreement with a Senegal-based Registrar – Kheweul.com SA from Dakar.

“We have accreditation agreements with more than 890 Registrars across the world – and this is only the second in Africa,” said Anne-Rachel Inné, ICANN’s Regional Liaison for Africa. “ICANN is continually working to expand its international participation and representation – and this agreement is an important step forward in that.”

Kheweul.com has been accredited to register domain names from the .biz, .com, .info, .name, .net, .org, and .pro top-level domains.

“We’re proud to be the first ICANN-accredited Registrar in West Africa and the second in Africa,” said Mouhamet Diop, Chairman and CEO of Kheweul.com. “Kheweul.Com is going to work closely with all African country-code top-level domain managers and all world-wide registries to provide domain name services to local African communities. We also plan to promote the digitalization of African cultural heritage and help the preserve of African multimedia content.”

ICANN successfully introduced competition in the registrar marketplace that has resulted in the over 890 ICANN accredited registrars now offering a range of registration services. A complete list of accredited registrars is available at: http://www.icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.html.

ICANN has a contractual relationship with all accredited registrars that clearly sets forth the obligations of accredited registrars. This information is available at: http://www.icann.org/registrars/ra-agreement-17may01.htm.

About ICANN:

ICANN is responsible for the global coordination of the Internet's system of unique identifiers like domain names (like .org, .museum and country codes like .uk) and the addresses used in a variety of Internet protocols that help computers reach each other over the Internet. Careful management of these resources is vital to the Internet's operation, so ICANN's global stakeholders meet regularly to develop policies that ensure the Internet's ongoing security and stability. ICANN is an internationally organized, public benefit non-profit company. For more information please visit: www.icann.org.

About Kheweul.Com:

Kheweul.Com is a Senegalese private company based in Senegal, registered under the African Jurisdiction, called OHADA, and will serve all African countries for any purposes related to Domain Names business. For more information please visit: www.kheweul.com.

Mouhamet Diop’s bio and involvement with the international functions of ICANN are online at: http://www.icann.org/biog/diop.htm.

Media Contacts:

Jason Keenan
Media Adviser, ICANN (USA)
Ph: +1 310 382 4004
E: jason.keenan@icann.org


Mouhamet Diop
Chairman & CEO
Kheweul.Com
SENEGAL
Ph: +221 821 29 39
Cell: +221 638 42 88
E: mouhamet.diop@kheweul.com





International: Andrew Robertson
Edelman (London)
Ph: +44 7921 588 770
E: andrew.robertson@edelman.com