Dear colleagues, I have been reading all the emails regarding fake conference registration forms with interest... I am actually surprised that it has caused such a stir; do fake registrations come in such huge numbers to cause great alarm? Since Nath has been kind enough to offer to 'screen' prospective participants from Nigeria, I hope that those with any doubts take him up on the offer. As for AFRICOM, we have not experienced any such fake requests from any country. Concerning Per's suggestion that AFRICOM and other representative bodies of African museums should find ways for some kind of simple authorisation of conference registrations... I think it would be very difficult indeed for AFRICOM or any other body to act as any kind of continental 'Registration Police'. However, I welcome everyone to make enquiries to AFRICOM to verify museum professionals against our database. I am pleased to say that the 2003 edition of the 'Directory of Museum Professionals in Africa' will be available in hardcopy and on our web site very soon, and this can also be a way of checking true professionals (although not necessarily ICOM members). It must however be kept in mind that the Directory reflects only those who responded to the questionnaire, and there are undoubtedly more professionals out there who did not... I think that ICOM committee conference organisers just need to be vigilant and confirm registrations according their own internal systems. Furthermore, I agree with Giovanni Pinna who points out that "le problème ne doit se poser que pour les demandes d'enregistrement adressée par des personnes qui ne sont pas membres de l'ICOM" (the problem only exists for registration requests from those who are not ICOM members). Therefore, it should be quite simple to send an email to the concerned country's ICOM committee, or to the friendly people at ICOM Membership Services, who can verify if someone is a member or not. Regards, Lorna -- Lorna L. Abungu Executive Director International Council of African Museums - AFRICOM Museum Hill Road P.O. Box 38706, Ngara 00600 Nairobi KENYA tel. 254-20-3748668 fax. 254-20-3748928 www.african-museums.org - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Change ICOM-L subscription options, unsubscribe, and search the archives at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/icom-l.html