Morocco has refused to host January’s African Nations Cup finals amid fears over the spread of the Ebola virus.
The country, who want the 16-team event postponed, rejected an ultimatum set by the Confederation of African Football to confirm their hosting of the continental soccer championship, due to take place January 17th-February 8th.
A statement from Morocco’s sports ministry said: “The decision is dictated by health reasons because of the serious threat of Ebola and the risk of its spreading.”
A decision on the tournament will now be made next week when CAF have an executive committee meeting in Cairo but Morocco will almost certainly be stripped as hosts.
CAF said earlier today it would make no statement until after Wednesday’s meeting. Morocco is concerned that supporters from west Africa converging on the country for the tournament could bring with them the deadly virus and put at risk their important tourist industry.
They asked CAF to postpone the event to June, or even January 2016, but this was rejected last week by African soccer’s governing body, who set Morocco a today’s deadline to confirm they would host the three-week tournament.
CAF can now either move the event to another country - although they have had no public expression of interest from nations they approached to be on standby as possible emergency hosts - or cancel it at great financial cost.
CAF accused Morocco of being alarmist in its fears over the spread of the virus, which has caused almost 5,000 deaths in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, and set out a lengthy list of reasons why it felt they could still host the tournament without any risk.
But Morocco stood firm and could face sanctions including the possibility of a lengthy ban from future Nations Cup tournaments. They did offer today’s statement to host the 2017 finals.
The tournament is African football’s showpiece but has a turbulent history, with several prospective hosts like Kenya, Libya, Zambia and Zimbabwe pulling out or being stripped of hosting rights in the past after being awarded the tournament.
Libya gave up the hosting of the 2017 finals in August and CAF must find a replacement. The 2019 finals are set for Cameroon, 2021 in the Ivory Coast and 2023 in Guinea.
Meanwhile, the African Union raised $28.5 million today from the continent’s wealthiest individuals and firms for a fund to fight the outbreak.
AU officials and business executives gathered in the Ethiopian capital to launch the emergency response fund said the money committed would be disbursed immediately.
“Our immediate concern is to respond to the appeal for 1,000 health care workers,” Strive Masiyiwa, Chairman of Econet Wireless, an African telecom operator, told reporters.
“We have also received considerable contributions in kind, which may well ... exceed what we have received in cash.”
Ebola has killed 4,950 people of the 13,241 infected since the outbreak started earlier this year, according to the World Health Organization, mostly in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
While countries from the United States to China and Cuba have deployed resources and health personnel in a UN-led aid surge, fast-growing African states and institutions have faced questions about the level and speed of their own contributions.
The African Union and the African Development Bank will guide the legal set-up of the new fund, which will be administered by a board of trustees drawn from corporate Africa.
Donors include foreign firms that do business in Africa, Mr Masiyiwa said.
At the meeting, African telecom firms also agreed an initiative to provide a platform for their customers to give at least a dollar each, with the potential of reaching 700 million mobile phone users, he added.
The platform, which will use one short code across all networks, is expected to be ready early next month.
Mustapha Sidiki Kaloko, the African Union’s Commissioner for Social Affairs, said the priority was to secure transport for the 1,000 extra health workers required.
“If somebody could help us with the transportation of the workers to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea ... that would be very, very helpful to us,” Kaloko told Reuters after the meeting.
The commissioner said they had 103 health workers on the ground but the number could go up to 2,000 by the end of December. Reuters