Data centers: Yaoundé Declaration targets local hosting of 100% of critical public data by 2030

Adopted on October 17, 2026, at the end of the E-Gov’A exhibition, the Yaoundé Declaration on e-governance and artificial intelligence in Africa urges African states to aim to host all classified critical or sovereign public data within their own borders by 2030. It recommends prioritizing national infrastructure and, where capacity is insufficient and the data permits, using infrastructure in another African country instead of providers outside the continent. The approach is summarized as “Local First, African First.” If incorporated into national policies, it could boost demand for data storage, backup, processing and security, benefiting data center operators and cloud service providers.