Two (2) seats are open for AFRINIC's community representatives to the Number Resource Organisation Number Council (NRO NC), which also serves as the ICANN Address Supporting Organisation Address Council (ASO AC).
2 candidates were found eligible for this election.
Elected candidates
| Name | Country | Title | Organisation | Term of office |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Musa Stephen Honlue | Cameroon | Project Manager | Smart Africa | 24 June 2026 – 31 December 2029 |
| Nitin Kelawon Sookun | Mauritius | Systems Architect | La Sentinelle Ltd | 24 June 2026 – 31 December 2028 |
Candidates
| Name | Country | Title | Organisation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Musa Stephen Honlue | Cameroon | Project Manager | Smart Africa |
| Nitin Kelawon Sookun | Mauritius | Systems Architect | La Sentinelle Ltd |
Note
Only the candidates named below were found eligible to stand for election in accordance with the applicable Election Guidelines. There was therefore no contested election for the community-elected AFRINIC representatives to the NRO NC / ASO AC, and both candidates were deemed elected unopposed. Subject to section 6.2.9 of the Election Guidelines, the election nevertheless proceeded for the purpose of determining the duration of each successful candidate's term of office, which was allocated according to the number of valid votes cast in favour of each candidate.
Candidate statements
Each candidate's background and what they said they would do in the role.
Musa Stephen HonlueCameroon · Smart Africa
Musa Stephen Honlue is a highly accomplished bilingual (English and French) Senior Agile Project/Program Manager and Technical Trainer with over 15 years of experience leading complex IT and digital transformation initiatives in the African Internet ecosystem. He has established a strong reputation for driving operational excellence, stabilizing project mandates, and building robust capacity-building frameworks across major continental institutions.
Currently, Mr. Honlue serves as the Project Manager for SADA (Smart Africa Digital Academy) under the DTfA-WARDIP program at Smart Africa. In this role, he leads the planning, resourcing, and execution of a continent-wide initiative to strengthen digital policy and regulatory skills, ensuring strict compliance with World Bank administrative and procurement rules. Prior to this, he spent six years (2020–2025) at AFRINIC as a Project Manager and Transformation Lead, where he was instrumental in establishing Agile frameworks, leading platform modernization, and directing corporate crisis communications and public relations.
Education & credentials
- MBA (in progress) — Edinburgh Business School, UK
- MSc in ITIC — Université de Gaston Berger
- MSc in Computer Distributed Systems — University of Dschang
- Certifications: AgileSHIFT, AIMPP Product Manager, Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt
Internet governance & leadership
- Former member of the MANRS Steering Committee (2022–2025), MANRS Fellow and Ambassador.
- Active AfNOG Instructor (since 2016) and ISOC Moderator/Trainer, mentoring over 400 engineers globally.
- Designed and launched the revenue-generating certi::6 IPv6 Certification MVP at AFRINIC.
Objectives for the role
- Establish predictable, transparent operational cadences and governance controls within the AFRINIC framework.
- Leverage extensive community training experience to bridge technical operations and policy-making.
- Contribute to robust risk management, capacity building, and collaborative digital policies.
Nitin Kelawon SookunMauritius · La Sentinelle Ltd
Nitin Kelawon Sookun is an experienced Systems Architect, open-source technologist, and digital community leader based in Mauritius. With over 20 years of experience in system administration, IT architecture, and technology advocacy, he is recognized for designing resilient corporate infrastructures, managing cross-functional engineering teams, and promoting open-source adoption across the global and African technology sectors.
Mr. Sookun currently serves as the Systems Architect at La Sentinelle Ltd, a leading diversified media and printing group in Mauritius. Since joining the group in 2015, he has spearheaded critical digital initiatives, including the development of high-traffic news portals such as lexpress.mu, top100companies.mu, and 5plus.mu, and designed the group's centralized Mail and Single Sign-On (SSO) infrastructures entirely utilizing open-source solutions. In 2025, he was elected to the global openSUSE Project Board (Nuremberg, Germany), having contributed to the openSUSE Linux project since 2010.
Education & credentials
- MBA in Artificial Intelligence — Rome Business School, Italy
- SUSE Certified Engineer in SLE 15 (2024)
- Novell Certified Linux Administrator (2012)
- Linux Professional Institute / LPIC-1 (2012)
Internet governance & leadership
- Elected Board Member of the openSUSE Project (2025–present).
- Elected VP Marketing & Communication for the PMI Chapter of Mauritius (2026).
- Technical Committee Member of the Mauritius Internet Exchange Point (MIXP).
- Appointed member of the Mauritius ICT Advisory Council (2015).
Objectives for the role
- Advocate for transparency, structural accountability, and community-centric policy consensus.
- Foster open-source software and infrastructure mirroring as key drivers of local and regional digital capacity.
- Promote project governance standard practices and coordinate multi-stakeholder collaboration frameworks.