Space Security Index

Space Security 2011
70
an African Space Policy, in cooperation with the Regional Economic Communities, the UN
Economic Commission for Africa, and the ITU, as described below.
2010 Development
African regional cooperation in space on the rise
During the 3rd African Leadership Conference on Space Science and Technology for
Sustainable Development held in Algeria on 7-9 December 2009, Nigeria, Algeria, South
Africa, and Kenya signed a regional cooperation agreement for an African Resources
Management Satellite (ARMS) Constellation. 109 Coming after years of discussions, 110 it
signaled increased cooperation between African countries. In a presentation to the Bengaluru
Space Expo-2010 on 25 August 2010, the Director General of the Nigerian Space Agency
stated that the program was open to other African countries and that Egypt had also shown
interest in ARMS. 111
At the launch of the South African National Space Agency in Pretoria on 9 December 2010,
South African Minister Naledi Pandor revealed that the National Space Strategy seeks to
promote research; foster international cooperation in space-related activities; and advance
scientic, engineering, and technological competencies through human capital development
and outreach programs. 112 e cooperation began with the signing of an interagency
agreement with the Algerian Space Agency to cooperate in space science and technology, as
well as with Memorandums of Understanding with Brazilian and Chinese space centres. 113
Along with those mentioned above, the core objectives of the strategy are:
1. To capture a share in the global market for small to medium-sized space systems;
2. To improve decision-making by integrating space-based and ground-based data-providing
systems; and
3. To develop applications for the provision of geospatial, telecommunications, timing, and
positioning products and services
2010 Development
A group of African states seeks to protect the “common heritage” of orbital assets through the
International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (ITSO) and the ITU
A conference of African Ministers in charge of communication and information technologies
was held in Abuja, Nigeria, on 3-7 August 2010, under the aegis of the African Union (AU).
e ministers committed themselves to securing the orbital/spectrum resources required to
accommodate continental satellites, making application as a block to secure allocation of
unused ITSO orbital resources to Africa a priority. 114 As a rst step, a group of African states
submitted a proposal to the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Guadalajara in October
2010, calling for assistance in addressing concerns about how to uniquely identify and
protect the satellite orbital slots and associated frequency spectrum (referred to as “common
heritage” 115 ) used for global satellite coverage by satellite services provider Intelsat to deliver
international public telecommunication services. According to reports, the member states
agreed to take no action beyond discussing the proposal further. 116