Cloud Innovation Statement on AFRINIC Member Rights
We reject AFRINIC’s demand to remove us from its register of members.
Internet addresses for the networks people rely on
Through LARUS Limited, we provide IPv4 addresses to the network operators and businesses that keep people online. We have been a member of AFRINIC, the regional internet registry for Africa, since 2013.
We defend the rule of law, a democratic society, people’s freedom and the constitutional separation of powers. Those who have long controlled AFRINIC have violated every one of them, and we are fighting to correct it, in court and on the record.
Latest statement · Cloud Innovation Statement on AFRINIC Member Rights
Our position
AFRINIC’s Receiver is trying to remove us from a register of members the Supreme Court ordered us onto. On 11 June 2025, on AFRINIC’s own application, the Court directed that we be entered in that register. A Supreme Court rule of 9 October 2026 certifies that outcome, and the Registrar of Companies’ records show our name there from that day. On 31 October 2026 the Receiver announced that he had demanded our removal, copying the Prime Minister and other officials, without citing any court order for it. AFRINIC belongs to its members; our dispute is with those who have long controlled it and keep concentrating control in their own hands. We defend the rule of law, a democratic society, people’s freedom and the constitutional separation of powers: every Resource Member’s right to be recognised and protected by company law, elections held under AFRINIC’s own constitution, as the Court required in September 2023, and court decisions that no minister can set aside. We pursue this in court and publish the documents, including those that went against us.
Read our latest statementSource: the Supreme Court’s order of 11 June 2025Source: AFRINIC’s communiqué of 31 October 2026
Lu Heng’s Note 63
On When the Bookkeeper Auditions for Olympus
What happens when a bookkeeper begins to believe the ledger is a throne?
On the record
Time and again the courts have protected our membership and held AFRINIC to its own constitution. Each decision links to the document.
See the full timelineCourt stopped AFRINIC from terminating our membership
After AFRINIC’s management went back on its undertaking to the Judge, the Supreme Court of Mauritius restrained AFRINIC, on our application, from terminating our resource membership until the dispute is finally determined.
Recorded in 2022 SCJ 253, pages 1 and 10Lu Heng’s Note 50
On When a Registry Can Destroy Without Cost — and Why the System Then Dies With It
What happens when a registry can destroy a network at a cost of one hundred dollars?
Court rejected the bid to shut us out of court
The Supreme Court held that we could not be blamed for turning to an independent court to safeguard our rights, and set aside the objection that our application was an abuse of process. Both parties had accepted there was a serious matter to be tried.
Read 2022 SCJ 253, pages 10 and 16–17Lu Heng’s Note 69
The Stability Fallacy in the RIR Argument
Whose stability is at stake: the institution’s, or the networks people actually use?
On our application, AFRINIC was placed in receivership
The Supreme Court of Mauritius found the orders we sought “fully justified, reasonable, and fair”, rejected AFRINIC’s preliminary objections as unsubstantiated and appointed the Official Receiver to preserve its assets and see that elections are held under its constitution.
Read the judgment, PDF pages 8–10Lu Heng’s Note 70
The Registry Continuity Fallacy — Protect the Ledger, Not the Gatekeeper
What must survive an institution’s failure: the ledger, or the gatekeeper?
Appeal in AFRINIC’s name failed: brought without authority
The Court of Civil Appeal upheld our objections that the appeal against the receivership, lodged in AFRINIC’s name, was brought without authority, set it aside and restored the receivership order.
Read 2024 SCJ 473, pages 18–19Lu Heng’s Note 19
Why RIRs Do Not Have Authority — and Why “Community Sovereignty” Breaks the System
What is the difference between authority and cooperation, and which one do registries have?
Court ordered AFRINIC to enter us in its register of members
On AFRINIC’s own application, the Supreme Court directed that AFRINIC’s register of members be rectified to add us as a member under section 91 of the Companies Act.
Read the order of 11 June 2025Lu Heng’s Note 1
On AFRINIC, RIR Governance, and the Myth of “Community Ownership”
What does “community ownership” mean when a few insiders control the rules?
Lu Heng’s Notes
Lu Heng, whose businesses include Cloud Innovation, sets out the thinking behind our stand in his Notes: who should hold power over the Internet’s number registries, and why a registry must keep the record rather than rule. Start with these three.
All Notes on heng.luLu Heng’s Note 67
When the Water Company Says Your House Belongs to It
If the water company claimed your house, would you accept it?
Lu Heng’s Note 54
On Who Gets to Speak for a Continent, a Community, or “The End User”
Who has a mandate to speak for a continent, a community, or “the end user”?
Lu Heng’s Note 72
The Bill of Rights of Uniqueness Coordination
Which rights keep networks running, records accurate, and exit real?
For AFRINIC members
Why every Resource Member belongs in AFRINIC’s register, and how the proposed constitution would weaken member control.
Read our statement on member rightsFor journalists
Company facts, official statements and a direct route to request comment.
Visit the newsroomFor officials and lawyers
Case numbers, courts and dates for our proceedings in Mauritius, most decided in our favour, each linked to its source.
See the court casesPublic Record
13 statements since 2021, 37 dated events and the original court documents and correspondence.
Explore the public recordFor law enforcement
Find the network operating an IP address and the right contact for your request.
Find the operating networkLatest statements
All statementsFollow-up: 16 July 2025
Urgent Proposal for Supporting the Dissolution of AFRINIC and Designating a Successor RIR to Manage African Internet Number Resources – Call for Immediate Collective Action -
Recent events at the African Network Information Centre (AFRINIC) have made it clear that the organization’s governance has irretrievably failed. A court-supervised AFRINIC…
Cloud Innovation Calls for AFRINIC Wind-Up Amid Election Impasse
Cloud Innovation Ltd. has been a long-standing advocate for fair and transparent governance at the African Network Information Centre (AFRINIC). We firmly believed that a free…