Nairobi — The World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) is to hold a preparatory meeting in Geneva next week ahead of an information technology conference in Tunis.

African states are preparing a negotiating position at WSIS's second phase. The position was recently discussed in Accra, where Kenya sent a delegation.

At issue in the WSIS is the funding of information and communication technology programmes to bridge the digital divide between the rich and poor countries.

A fund initiated by Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade has, however, been ignored by the developed countries, especially the main Western donors. It has collected only a paltry $50 million.

Another WSIS issue revolves around world Internet governance, which has again divided rich and poor countries, with the former rooting for a controlled regime and the latter for a liberalised one, which would, for that very reason, be automatically dominated by the rich.

Africa's ICT ministers ministers were meeting in Ghana to forge a common position because of what is expected to be rather complex negotiations in Tunisia.

At Accra, several African pioneers in Internet development were recognised, including Kenya's Dr Shem Ochuodho, Ghana's Dr Niic Qaynor, Mozambique's Dr Venacio Mansinge and NIgeria's Prof Clement Dzidonu.