Multilateral legal responses to cyber security in Africa: Any hope for effective international cooperation?

Within the past decade, Africa has witnessed a phenomenal growth in Internet penetration and the use of Information Communications Technologies (ICTs). However, the spread of ICTs and Internet penetration has also raised concerns about cyber security at regional and sub-regional governance forums. This has led African intergovernmental organizations to develop legal frameworks for cyber security. At the sub-regional level, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has adopted a Directive on Cybercrime, while the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have adopted model laws. At the regional level, the African Union (AU) has adopted a Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection. This paper seeks to examine these legal instruments with a view to determining whether they provide adequate frameworks for mutual assistance and international cooperation on cyber security and cyber crime control. The paper will argue that the AU Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection does not provide an adequate framework for mutual assistance and international cooperation amongst African States and that this state of affairs may limit and fragment international cooperation and mutual assistance along sub-regional lines or bilateral arrangements. It will recommend the development of international cooperation and mutual assistance mechanisms within the framework of the AU and also make a case for the establishment of a regional Computer Emergency Response Team to enhance cooperation as well as the coordination of responses to cyber security incidents.