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DE RUEHLGB #1062/01 3200507
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 160507Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY KIGALI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4914
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RUEHDR/AMEMBASSY DAR ES SALAAM 1003
RUEHJB/AMEMBASSY BUJUMBURA 0187
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UNCLAS KIGALI 001062 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/C 
DEPARTMENT PASS USTDA: EEBONG 
DEPARTMENT PASS USTR: WJACKSON 
DEPARTMENT PASS COMMERCE: RTELCHIN 
DEPARTMENT PASS OPIC: BCAMERON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EFIN ECON PGOV EINV ENRG ETRD EPET BTIO RW
SUBJECT: IT FOR AFRICA: RWANDA LEADS THE WAY 
 
 
¶1. Summary.  Rwanda hosted the Connect Africa Summit October 29-30. 
Six African presidents, 53 communications ministers, and 19 
corporate executives attended the summit which was intended to 
accelerate broadband and wireless connectivity in Africa.  Dr. 
Hamadoun Toure, Secretary General of the International 
Telecommunication Union (ITU), declared that this conference will be 
"the Marshall Plan for information communication technology (ICT) 
infrastructure development in Africa."  A total of USD 50 billion 
was pledged to help build African ICT infrastructure.  Multinational 
companies promised to invest while donors such as the World Bank 
committed to increase substantially their aid flows into ICT.  The 
Connect Africa Summit contributed to President Kagame's attempt to 
position Rwanda as a high-tech visionary, as the summit was 
well-attended and generated hopeful promises.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  Governments, along with private sector companies, development 
banks, and international organizations gathered in Kigali on October 
29 and 30 for the Connect Africa Summit.  The summit was designed to 
mobilize the human, financial, and technical resources required to 
expand the development of ICT infrastructure and solutions in 
Africa.  The summit was co-sponsored by the Government of Rwanda 
(GOR), the ITU, the African Union, the World Bank, and the United 
Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development in partnership with 
the African Development Bank, the African Telecommunications Union, 
the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and the Global 
Digital Solidarity Fund.  Heads of State in attendance were Paul 
Kagame of Rwanda, Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso, Bingu Wa 
Mutharika of Malawi, Ismael Omar Guelleh of Djibouti, Abdoulaye Wade 
of Senegal, and Pierre Nkurunzinza of Burundi. 
 
SUMMIT GOALS 
----------------------- 
¶3.  The Secretary General of ITU, Dr. Hamadoun Toure, opened the 
conference.  Toure explained the goal of the summit was to discuss 
implementation of the resolutions reached in earlier meetings rather 
than developing new recommendations.  He labelled the Kigali Summit 
"a Marshall Plan for ICT infrastructure development in Africa." 
Toure called upon participants to explore and invest in broader ICT 
ventures that would eventually connect the "highly unconnected" 
African continent to the global economy.  He said the meeting 
provided a "vital opportunity" to bring about greater cohesion in 
the continent's ICT strategies, and to strengthen partnerships 
between governments and the private sector for rapid realization of 
tangible results.  Several heads of state, in their opening remarks, 
underscored the point that investors create wealth, and that this 
Summit provided an opportunity to form partnerships.  As a 
counterpoint, Dr. Craig Barrett, Chairman of Intel Corporation and 
the Global Alliance for ICT and Development (in his presentation on 
the importance of ICT in development), estimated that an increase of 
10 percentage points in mobile penetration could increase the annual 
growth rate of GDP by up to 1.2 percentage points. 
 
¶4.  Participants debated the factors vital to advance ICT investment 
and boost growth in Africa.  These included the expanding broadband 
infrastructures, providing rural connectivity solutions, 
establishing business-friendly policies and regulatory environments, 
developing an ICT skilled workforce, and striking the right balance 
between private and public investment. 
 
¶5.  Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, who is also the chairman of 
ICT in Africa, said this should be the last meeting that brings 
people together without getting to the heart of implementing 
previous resolutions.  Malawian President Dr. Bingwa wa Muthalika 
echoed the same sentiment saying the success from this landmark 
meeting would depend upon agreements forged between governments and 
private companies. 
OBSTACLES IDENTIFIED 
---------------------------------- 
¶6.  Rwandan Minister of State for Infrastructure Albert Butare 
stated more than USD 8 billion has been invested in 
telecommunications infrastructure across Africa in 2005, yet huge 
obstacles still remain.  These challenges included shortage of 
skills among users and public servants, lack of a culture (sometimes 
mechanisms) for sharing information, lack of requisite legislation, 
and the tendency for public information to be kept out of the public 
realm. 
 
¶7.   Ambassador Sha Zukang, Undersecretary General for Economic and 
Social Affairs at the United Nations, argued that barriers to the 
adoption of mobile communications, such as high consumer taxes 
levied in African countries have to be lowered or removed to 
stimulate growth.  High license fees and other regulatory 
bottlenecks, such as international gateway monopolies, constrain the 
competitiveness of African businesses.  Ambassador Sha reported that 
more than 70 percent of internet traffic within Africa is routed 
outside the continent, driving up costs for business and consumers. 
Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza painted a grim picture, 
explaining that there are only 50,000 connected computers in his 
country.  This represents a 0.07 percent rate of internet 
penetration for Burundi as opposed to an average rate of 62 percent 
in the developing world. 
 
RWANDA'S ROLE 
------------------------- 
¶8.  ICT is a crucial cornerstone of President Kagame's strategic 
plan for Rwanda's development, and the GOR has acted accordingly to 
build technical institutions, provide scholarships for science and 
technology study abroad, and host several conferences focused on 
technology.  During the summit, the GOR made a public offer to 
provide up to 100 ICT scholarships for students from East and 
Central African nations starting in 2009.  The Rwanda Information 
and Technology Authority (RITA) Secretary General, Nkubito 
Bakuramutsa, confirmed that Kagame has set specific targets for 
RITA, including the creation of an internet backbone throughout the 
country by the end of 2008 - a goal which Bakuramutsa admits is 
extremely aggressive. 
 
¶9.  In January of this year, Kagame reminded heads of state at an 
African Union summit that Rwanda had set its science and technology 
spending at 1.6 percent of GDP, bringing it in line with typical 
many developed nations (as opposed to other African nations, which 
average less than 0.5 percent).  African leaders at the summit 
picked up on this Rwandan signal of leadership.  Burundi President, 
Pierre Nkurunzinza, for example, in his remarks at the Summit 
expressed his recognition of Kagame's vision for development and 
announced that he will eliminate all taxes on ICT tools and reduce 
costs of acquiring licenses in the country in order to quicken the 
process of achieving connectivity. 
 
SUMMIT OUTCOMES 
----------------------------- 
¶10.  The Connect Africa summit ended on a high note with government 
and private sector delegates agreeing to work together to develop 
Africa's interconnectivity.  In his closing remarks, Dr. Toure said 
several projects had already been signed. 
 
¶11.  Microsoft promised support to help accelerate the 
implementation of the United Nations Millenium Development goals on 
ICT in Africa.  One of the company's vice presidents, Michael 
Rawding, announced that Microsoft will mobilize human, financial and 
technical resources required to expand the development of the ICT, 
infrastructure and connectivity.  According to a joint statement 
issued at the end of the Summit, the two parties agreed to support 
programs providing skills development and capacity building along 
with the delivery of relevant applications and services.  This 
includes delivery of a new online program for all stakeholders to 
showcase and track the implementation of development projects.  The 
online platform, GlobalView, will be hosted and maintained by the 
ITU, and will be open to all stakeholders -  governments, industry, 
international and regional organizations, as well as civil society - 
allowing users to check status, identify gaps and avoid overlap in 
collaborative efforts to achieve the Millenium Development goals. 
 
¶12.  Dr. Hartwig Schafer, World Bank Director of Operations for 
Africa, announced that the World Bank Group will double its 
commitment to ICT on the continent to USD 2 billion by 2012.  Donald 
Kabaruka, African Development Bank (AfDB) President (who also hosts 
the Secretariat of the African Infrastructure Consortium which 
brings together major donors and financial institutions active on 
the continent) announced that AfDB will also scale up funds to 
 
 
develop ICT initiatives in Africa.  Under the Summit Communique 
issued, the ITU and AfDB will actively mobilize partners and 
financing to close ICT broadband infrastructure gaps between major 
centres in Africa.  The AfDB and the ITU will jointly undertake 
feasibility studies and develop project proposals in consultation 
with stakeholders in the region. 
¶13.  The Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) 
said its member companies would invest USD 50 billion in mobile 
phone telecommunications in sub-Saharan Africa over the next five 
years.  GSMA's investment will be used to extend the reach of GSM 
mobile networks, enhanced with General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), 
Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) and High-Speed Packet 
Access (HSPA) technologies, to provide several mobile multimedia 
services, including Internet access.  (Note: Founded in 1987, GSMA 
is a global trade association representing over 700 GSM mobile phone 
operators across 218 countries of the world. It also includes more 
than 200 manufacturers and suppliers support the Association's 
initiatives as associate members. End Note). 
 
¶14.  Huawei Technologies, a Chinese telecommunication company 
already engaged in infrastructure projects in Rwanda, signed a 
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the ITU to jointly promote 
technical development in developing countries.  Following the summit 
Bakuramutsa explained that the MOU commits the parties to cooperate 
in improving interconnectivity between regions as well as developing 
local telecommunication expertise.  As a first step, the two parties 
will use Huawei's existing training centers in India and Nigeria to 
provide telecommunications training to Rwandan engineers and 
technicians.  Bakuramutsa also reported that Huawei donated 
telecommunication equipment worth USD 130,000 to RITA to provide 
quality broadband services in support of the Connect Africa Summit. 
 
 
¶15.  Carnegie Mellon University announced a scholarship program to 
help build capacity in the technology sector.  Dr. Pradeep Khosla, 
Dean of the College of Engineering at the University, promised 150 
scholarships for Rwandan ICT students over the next five years, 30 
starting in January 2008. 
 
¶16. Comment.  Rwanda's dream of becoming the "Singapore of Africa" - 
an information-technology hub for the resource-rich nations of 
Eastern and Central Africa is a point of pride for the GOR, a matter 
of concern for some, and a curiosity for just about everyone else. 
The Connect Africa Summit contributed to Kagame's attempt to 
position Rwanda as a high-tech visionary.  Prioritizing science and 
technology has enabled Kagame to attract the interest of top 
technology executives around the world, including at this event. 
All speakers, panelists, and participants agreed on the importance 
of ICT adoption for economic development in Africa.  As most of the 
heads of state mentioned in their opening remarks, however, 
recognition of the importance of ICT is not a new development, and 
it remains to be seen whether the promises made at the summit will 
materialize.  Government officials and business leaders see 
high-tech as the best way to lift the world's least-developed 
continent into a better position to compete globally, but others 
argue that the money could be better spent on things like potable 
water and reliable electricity. 
 
ARIETTI