Rabat - Morocco has refused to host January's African Nations Cup
soccer finals amid fears over the spread of the Ebola virus, throwing
the 2015 tournament into jeopardy on Saturday.
The country, which had already said it wanted the 16-team event
postponed, rejected an ultimatum set by the Confederation of African
Football to confirm the hosting of the continental championship due
to take place Jan. 17-Feb. 8.
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
has an executive committee meeting in Cairo but Morocco will almost
certainly be stripped as hosts.
CAF said earlier on Saturday 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 deadline of Saturday to confirm it would host the
three-week tournament.
CAF can now either move the event to another country - although it
has had no public expression of interest from nations it 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.
Global health authorities are struggling to contain the world's worst
Ebola epidemic since the disease was identified in 1976 and cases have
reached as far as the United States and Spain.
Morocco has therefore stood firm on its refusal to host and could
face sanctions including the possibility of a lengthy ban from future
Nations Cup tournaments.
The Moroccans did offer in Saturday'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 because of
security issues and stadium delays and CAF must find a replacement.
The 2019 finals are set for Cameroon, 2021 in the Ivory Coast and
2023 in Guinea.
- Reuters
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