By James Robert Kayindi
Finally the Confederation of African Football (CAF) President Issa Hayatou may get a piece of mind after finding hosts for the forthcoming Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). This comes after Equatorial Guinea, the 2012 co-hosts with Gabon accepted to host the event that is meant to kick-off next year in January on the 17th until 8th February 2015.
It should be noted that the Orange Africa Cup of Nations organizers have been under tension to find a host for the tournament after Morocco pulled out from hosting the event due to health reasons.
Morocco claimed that they were not ready to put the life of their natives on the line as well as Africa at large following the outbreak of the lethal Ebola epidemic that has claimed about 5,000 lives on the continent especially in the Western part of it. Morocco has since been disqualified from participating in next year’s AFCON as punishment for breach of contract.
Morocco’s pull-out caused panic to CAF and in a bid to find a host for the tournament consulted countries like South Africa, Ghana among others on whether they could help host the tourney but all these turned down CAF’s request.
Unconfirmed reports also claim that France had come out to ask CAF if it could host the tournament since the CAF President Issa Hayatou had insisted that postponing the tournament was not an option as Morocco had earlier requested.
Email Robert: Robert.k.ciclres@gmail.com