Ministers from the 23 African countries involved in the $300 million Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (Eassy) project will sign the protocol approving its policy and regulatory framework in Rwanda, at the end of August.
The countries involved in the initiative are: Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Djibouti, DRC, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Somalia, SA, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The protocol will allow the Eassy project steering committee to fast-track the construction of the 9 900km cable and associated terrestrial infrastructure, says New Partnership for Africa`s Development (Nepad) e-Africa Commission media relations manager Samuel Mikenga.
Rwandan president Paul Kagame will preside over the signing ceremony, which will take place in Kigali, on 28 and 29 August, says Mikenga. In addition, Rwandan prime minister Albert Butare and dignitaries from Nepad and the African Union are expected to attend.
The signing of the protocol follows a meeting of ICT ministers in Johannesburg in June, where the African ministers undertook to "do whatever it takes" to gain the ratification of the legal and policy framework governing the Eassy cable by their individual countries.
Each minister also undertook to ensure regulatory mechanisms were put in place to support the special purpose vehicle that was designed to own the Eassy project, communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri said.
Earlier this month, the Nepad e-Africa Commission announced it had awarded Alcatel the tender to build the Eassy cable system. Construction is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2006, a spokesperson said.
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