Nairobi, Kenya ? In Nigeria, bloggers documented chaotic scenes at polling places in April’s presidential elections, which international observers said were marred by widespread fraud.

In Ethiopia, they outpaced the international media with detailed, often dramatic coverage of the recent trial of 100 opposition supporters and journalists.

Here in Kenya, they debate news, politics, music and local gossip with equal gusto.

Africa’s bloggers are coming of age, thanks to fast-expanding Internet access and a growing awareness of the power of the medium, creating a public space in countries where traditional media still face repression.

Until recently, the African blogosphere had a foreign tilt, with the vast majority of Web sites manned by Africans living overseas or by missionaries, Peace Corps volunteers and other foreigners passing through the continent.

“There’s still a strong expatriate influence. But over time we’re seeing more people in these countries working with blogs,” said Ethan Zuckerman, a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School and an expert on technology in the developing world.

Internet access is expanding faster across Africa than anywhere else in the world, albeit from a very low base. There are 33.4 million Web users on the continent now, a six-fold increase from 2000, according to Internetworldstats.com, a Web site that tracks worldwide Internet usage.

Still, that represents only 3.6 percent of Africa’s population – by contrast, 70 percent of Americans have Web access – so blogging mostly comes from the urban, college-educated middle class. As a result, many sites focus on current events, with writers voicing frustration at the corruption and bad government plaguing African nations.