The Internet and other communication networks are development tools, quite as important as educational, agricultural and training programmes. Information, Information Technologies and data networks have (and have had) a fundamental role in the development of ‘northern societal and cultural environments’, though the Internet is still seen by some people in developed countries simply as a pastime, as a new multimedia entertainment providing nice graphics and images. In a society sated with information, the need for Information and Information Technologies are perhaps not always fully appreciated. The role of networks as valuable development tools may therefore be better understood in the African context. The purpose ofthis article, however, is not only to point out the importance of electronic communication networks such as the Internet in helping the processes of development in Africa, but also to offer readers of the Africa Bibliography an up-to-date guide to the extent and kinds of connectivity currently operating or being planned in African countries, and to some of the problems – political, financial, technical – that the new information technology faces today.