Barnabé
Affougnon and Seydina's mails will soon be translated and sent to you.
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From
Bandé Moussa
Sissoko,
Mr Sissoko, journalist (daily newspaper L’Essor, Mali)
writes to say that he is enjoying the discussions. He leads the
association of
Malian Journalists using English as working language (Union des
Journalistes Maliens
d'_expression_ Anglaise - UJMEA); he is member of the National Journalist
Union.
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From Adamou Iro
Adamou Iro, a_iro@yahoo.fr
from Niger,
lawyer and manager, affirms
that IPR ICT issues are not known in his country by lawyers. The
existing legal instrument on copyright has been adopted under the
lobbying of
the musician association and does not include issues like the
protection of
computer software. He said that the new high committee on ICTs just created by the Prime Minister will
work on information society legal issues. He will have to contact WIPO
in this
regard. According to him a regional approach should be better efficient.
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From Achille Kouawo
Achille Kouawo, kouawo@clapnoir.org,
journalist in Niger,
and chief editor of the webzine Clapnoir www.clapnoir.org
thanked contributors of the debate. He said we have to be convinced
that Africa
will participate in the information society, and that even if there is
not a political will, the practical actions undertaken by some
stakeholders
would be a driving factor. Human resources are available, more and more
stakeholders
are integrating ICTs in their activities; he said content creation is
the key
factor of the information society. Regarding IPRs, he said creators are
more
and more aware of their rights due to the information circulating on
the
internet. But according to him, copyright bureaux in Africa
need to communicate
better on their work. People are not informed of what their activities
and on the internet there is not much information on them. Informing
people and target audiences should therefore be
a priority.
Action should follow.
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From
Papou Kponton
Papou Kponton, papoulov@yahoo.fr
journalist
from Togo, wrote to inform us that ICT are stagnating in Togo,
a country which was one of the pioneers in West Africa in this domain.
He
thinks it’s mainly due the government disinterest and thus Togo
does not have an ICT policy. He hopes that with the continued effort
and
lobbying of the private sector (which has created a great number of
cybercafés
in the countries).
He said journalists should play an important role to raised awareness
on these issues. He just
participated in a training co-organized by the Panos Institute
West Africa on ICT issues.
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From Mawaki Chango
Mawaki Chango, voodoojazz@gmail.com
apologized for replying to a contribution not focussing on the issue
dealt
with by the current debate but confirmed Mr Kponton’s opinion. He
mainly regrets
the high cost of the internet in the country. He promises to contribute
on
IPR debate in a next mail.
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