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Tag: Guinea

  • CAF re-opens bidding process for 2025 AFCON hosting rights

    CAF re-opens bidding process for 2025 AFCON hosting rights

    The Confederation of African Football CAF has re-opened the bidding process for the hosting rights of the 2025 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports this is contained in a statement published on CAF Online, the official website of the administrative and controlling body for association football in Africa.

    According to the statement, CAF has sent a notice to the member associations to express their interest in hosting the 2025 AFCON.

    The football management body has also informed member associations about the process that will be followed in the selection of the host country or countries.

    AFCON 2025 Bidding Process Timeline

    –       11 November 2022: Deadline for submitting the Declaration of Interest form
    –       16 November 2022: Deadline for CAF to send the hosting documents to Member Associations that have declared their interest.
    –       16 December 2022: Deadline for Member Associations to submit their final bid, including all bidding and hosting documents (hosting agreement, host cities agreement, Government guarantees)
    –       05-25 January 2023: Inspection visits
    –       10 February 2023: Appointment of Host Country/Countries by the CAF Executive Committee

    TNG report that this is coming after CAF stripped Guinea of the rights to host the 2025 AFCON finals, following a meeting in Conakry between Guinea’s interim president, Col. Mamady Doumbouya, and CAF President Patrice Motsepe.

    The meeting had discussed the withdrawal after the west African country, among the poorest of the continent, formally said it was not ready to host the 24-nation tournament.

    Guinea’s inability was due to its infrastructure and facilities not being ready to host a world-class AFCON competition.

    Motsepe was accompanied during his meeting with the Guinean leader by CAF General Secretary, Véron Mosengo-Omba.

    Earlier, Nigeria had indicated an interest in jointly hosting the 2025 AFCON with the Benin Republic.

    TNG reports that the 2023 AFCON is already scheduled to hold in Côte d’Ivoire.

  • CAF withdraws 2025 AFCON hosting rights from Guinea

    CAF withdraws 2025 AFCON hosting rights from Guinea

    Guinea has been stripped of the rights to host the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced on Saturday.

    This development means fresh bidding for the tournament’s hosting rights is set to be reopened on Saturday.

    The rights withdrawal followed a meeting on Friday in Conakry between Guinea’s interim president, Col. Mamady Doumbouya, and CAF President Patrice Motsepe.

    The meeting had discussed the withdrawal after the west African country, among the poorest of the continent, said it was not ready to host the 24-nation tournament.

    Guinea’s inability was due to its infrastructure and facilities not being ready to host a world-class AFCON competition.

    Motsepe was accompanied during his meeting with the Guinean leader by CAF General Secretary, Véron Mosengo-Omba.

    The development is expected to ginger Guinea into working towards bidding with other competing nations for the 2024 African Nations Championship (CHAN).

    The 2022 edition of CHAN is being hosted by Algeria in 2023.

    The CAF Executive Committee will be meeting on Saturday in Algiers, Algeria and will take a decision to re-open the bidding process for the 2025 AFCON.

    The 2023 AFCON is already scheduled to hold in Côte d’Ivoire.

  • 2025 AFCON: CAF strips Guinea of hosting right, Nigeria set to benefit

    2025 AFCON: CAF strips Guinea of hosting right, Nigeria set to benefit

    Insinuations are rife that the Confederation of Africa Football, (CAF) has stripped Guinea of the 2025 AFCON hosting right.

    The decision and subsequent announcement were made at the CAF secretariat in Cairo, Egypt after due consultations.

    CAF announced Guinea as the tournament’s host on November 30, 2018, but the continent’s football body has withdrawn the mandate after the Executive Committee approved the decision to strip Guinea of the hosting rights.

    CAF said that considering happenings and preparations so far on the ground and time frame, Guinea is not prepared to host the continent’s most glamorous competition.

    The Guinean government was toppled sometime a few months ago by the country’s military and the west African country is still very much unsettled.

    However, there are indications that Nigeria and Republic du Benin  may get the nod.

    “The Executive Committee was unanimous that Guinea will not be ready to host the competition.

    “The Executive Committee took a unanimous decision based on the report as submitted that the tournament is withdrawn from Guinea.

    “The President suggested that a delegation be sent to Guinea to inform them of the decision taken by EXCO.

    “Resolution: The Executive Committee resolved to send a delegation to Guinea to inform them of CAF’s decision to withdraw the Africa Cup of Nations Guinea 2025 from Guinea,” CAF noted in a release made available to the media.

    Recall that President of Nigeria Football Federation, (NFF) Amaju Pinnick had hinted a few weeks ago that Nigeria and neighbour Benin Republic could get the hosting right of the tournament.

    However, CAF hasn’t officially announced the new host of the tournament but plans to reveal it in due course.

    CAF has not however made any official statement on the replacement if Guinea loses the hosting rights.

  • World Cup qualifier: D’Tigers cage Guinea 89-70

    World Cup qualifier: D’Tigers cage Guinea 89-70

    Nigeria’s national men’s basketball team, D’Tigers, on Saturday in Abidjan defeated Guinea 89-70 in their second match of the FIBA Basketball World Cup African Qualifiers.

    The match played at the 3,500-capacity Palais des Sports Treichville saw D’Tigers bounce back after losing to Cote D’Ivoire in the opening fixture.

    The Nigerian team started brightly, racing to a 24-15 points lead in the first quarter, the second quarter was a tie 20-20 but D’Tigers took a nine-point lead to the halftime break.

    However, the third quarter proved decisive for the D’Tigers as they blew their opponents away 32-15 to establish a solid lead going into the last quarter.

    Guinea took the fourth quarter 20-13 but it was too little, too late as D’Tigers ran away with a 89-70 win.

    Top performers for D’Tigers include: Amanze Egekeze (14 points), Metu (12 points) and Uche Iroegbu (11 points).

    The Nigerian team will wrap up their window 4 of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers with a game against Angola on Sunday.

    D’Tigers are vying to pick one of the five slots for African teams at the 2023 FIBA World Cup.

    The 2023 FIBA World Cup in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines will hold from Aug. 25 to Sept. 10.

  • AFCON 2025: CAF dismisses Nigeria/Benin Republic Joint bid

    AFCON 2025: CAF dismisses Nigeria/Benin Republic Joint bid

    The Confederation of African Football CAF has dismissed reports that Guinea will be stripped of the 2025 AFCON hosting rights and given to Nigeria/Benin Republic.

    It was gathered that football stakeholders have been doubting the readiness of Guinea to stage the biennial events.

    Recall that the President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Melvin Pinnick on Tuesday said Nigeria and its neighbor the Benin Republic are set to take over from Guinea.

    CAF top official who remained anonymous told BBC Sports Africa that Guinea remained the host.

    “We’ve not discussed anything about a replacement or received any communication from Guinea about the inability to host. At this very moment, everything is on track for Guinea to host and there is no reason to suggest otherwise,” he told BBC Sports Africa

    Nigeria last hosted AFCON in 2000 when they co-hosted with Ghana.

    Meanwhile, CAF has postponed the 2023 AFCON  billed for Cote d’ Ivoire to January 2024, it remains unclear if the 36th edition will hold in 2025 or not.

  • ECOWAS slams fresh sanctions on Mali, Guinea

    ECOWAS slams fresh sanctions on Mali, Guinea

    The West African regional grouping ECOWAS on Sunday hardened its stance against military-ruled Mali and Guinea, imposing new individual sanctions and calling on both countries to honour timetables for a return to democracy.

    The Economic Community of West African States “has decided to sanction all those implicated in the delay” in organising elections set for February 27 in Mali, ECOWAS Commission President Jean-Claude Kassi Brou said after a summit of the 15-nation group in the Ghanaian capital Accra.

    He said Mali had “officially written” to Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo, who holds the rotating presidency of ECOWAS, to inform him that the Sahel country could not hold elections as planned.

    “All the transition authorities are concerned by the sanctions which will take immediate effect,” Brou said, adding the travel bans and assets freezes targeted family members as well.

    In a final declaration following Sunday’s summit, ECOWAS said it “highly deplores the lack of progress” towards staging elections in Mali.

    The situation has raised concerns internationally, prompting a UN Security Council delegation to Mali late last month.

    Council members “reiterated their call for the Malian transitional authorities to achieve… the handover of power to democratically elected civilian authorities within the agreed timeline,” the officials said in a statement.

    Mali’s junta expelled the ECOWAS special envoy Hamidou Boly from the country on October 26, declaring him “persona non grata”.

    On Sunday, ECOWAS condemned the expulsion.

    As for Guinea, where soldiers seized power on September 5, ECOWAS decided to uphold the country’s suspension from the bloc as well as sanctions against individual junta members and their families.

  • JUST IN: Guinea coup leader, Col Doumbouya sworn in as President

    JUST IN: Guinea coup leader, Col Doumbouya sworn in as President

    Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, who led last month’s coup in Guinea, was sworn in as interim president on Friday promising to respect the West African state’s international commitments while transitioning to civilian rule.

    Doumbouya, who led the overthrow of president Alpha Conde on September 5, was sworn in by Supreme Court head Mamadou Sylla for a transition period of unspecified length.

    The new interim president spoke of his “commitment” that neither he nor any member of the junta would stand in any future elections that the military have promised to organise after the transition period.

    His administration’s mission is to “refound the state” he said, by drafting a new constitution, fighting corruption, reforming the electoral system and then organising “free, credible and transparent” elections.

    He once again said nothing at the time of his swearing in about how long he will remain the interim leader.

    The new president also promised to “respect all the national and international commitments to which the country has subscribed.”

    Wearing a beige dress uniform, red beret and dark glasses, the new national leader also vowed to “loyally preserve national sovereignty” and to “consolidate democratic achievements, guarantee the independence of the fatherland and the integrity of the national territory”.

    The ceremony was held at the Mohammed-V palace in Conakry on the eve of a public holiday celebrating the 1958 declaration of independence from France.

    Doumbouya will serve as transitional president until the country returns to civilian rule, according to a blueprint unveiled by the junta on Monday that does not mention a timeline.

  • Coup: Guinea junta dares ECOWAS; rejects poll pressure, rules out exile for detained president

    Coup: Guinea junta dares ECOWAS; rejects poll pressure, rules out exile for detained president

    Guinea’s ruling junta on Saturday ruled out exile for detained former president Alpha Conde and said transition towards civilian rule would be done in accordance with “the will of the people”.

    The statement from the ruling council came in defiance of international pressure for Conde’s release and a six-month timetable for elections after a coup on September 5 sparked global condemnation.

    It also followed the visit on Friday of a mission from ECOWAS led by two heads of state from the 15-member West African bloc.

    Mamady Doumbouya, the colonel who led the coup, told the visiting delegation that “it was important for ECOWAS to listen to the legitimate aspirations of the people of Guinea,” said a junta spokesman, Colonel Amara Camara, at the ruling council’s first press conference on the six-month deadline.

    Doumbouya stressed the need not to repeat the “mistakes of the past”, recalling that national consultations to outline the transition had begun on Tuesday and that “only the sovereign people of Guinea will decide its destiny”, Camara said.

    “It is also clear to all parties that the former president will remain in Guinea,” he added.

    During their visit, the Ghanaian head of state Nana Akufo-Addo, whose country holds the rotating presidency of ECOWAS, and his Ivorian counterpart Alassane Ouattara, presented the junta with the organisation’s demands for elections within six months.

    They also insisted on the release of Conde.

    “We had very frank, fraternal talks with Colonel Doumbouya and his associates and collaborators and I think that ECOWAS and Guinea will find a way to walk together,” Akufo-Addo said at the end of the visit.

    The ruling council, which now designates Doumbouya as “President of the Republic and Head of State”, said that the consultation sessions scheduled for Friday with banks, insurance companies and unions would be held on Saturday.

    This consultation will continue next week, it announced, including Monday meetings with cultural actors, press associations and those within the informal sector.

    The military has already held talks with political parties, religious leaders, the heads of mining companies, key players in this poor but resource-rich country, and other figures.

  • ECOWAS freezes accounts; places Guinea, Mali coup leaders on travel ban

    ECOWAS freezes accounts; places Guinea, Mali coup leaders on travel ban

    The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has imposed targeted sanctions on the leaders of the military juntas in Guinea and Mali, a move aimed at forcing the rapid return of the countries to democratic rule.

    The decision was taken at an extraordinary summit of heads of state and government of the 15-member bloc in the Ghanaian capital, Accra on Thursday.

    A statement issued by the ECOWAS Commission said the sanctions which involve travel ban and freezing of financial assets are aimed at members of the juntas and their family members.

    In Guinea, the sanctions take effect immediately against all the members of the National Committee of Reconciliation and Development (CNRD) junta and their family members. And in Mali, it will affect only people identified as participating in a deliberate move to forestall the transition process there.

    The summit was attended by heads of states from nine countries, including the leaders of Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea Bissau and Senegal. Nigeria, the regional superpower, was represented by its Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo.

    The summit was chaired by Ghanaian president and current chairman of the bloc, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

    “The Conference reiterates its strong condemnation of the coup of September 5, 2021 and reaffirms its demand for the immediate and unconditional release of President Alpha Condé,” the statement read by ECOWAS President Jean-Claude Kassi Brou at a press briefing reads in part. It adds that the bloc holds the leaders of the junta individually and collectively responsible for the safety of Mr Condé.

    “The Guinea junta leaders were ordered to conduct presidential and legislative elections and hand over power to the elected officials within six months. All members of the CNRD were barred from contesting the presidential election.”

    ECOWAS leaders in the statement however also acknowledged the “apparent commitment” of the junta to work for a quick return of constitutional order, citing ongoing consultations with national and international actors in the country.

    Mali, where the military first seized power in August 2020 and later in May this year, is expected to conduct elections in February 2022, according to the resolution of an earlier summit by the regional leaders.
    But there have been concerns that the transition government might not meet the deadline, amidst indication that the junta was dragging its feet.

    The report on the political transition in Mali was presented by the former Nigerian President and ECOWAS envoy to the country, Goodluck Jonathan. The bloc’s decision, according to the ECOWAS statement, was an endorsement of the main recommendations contained in the Jonathan report.

    It expressed dissatisfaction with the slow pace of the preparation for the elections and insisted that the date stipulated must be followed.

    The Mali transition government was also ordered to submit by the end of next month a roadmap outlining the essential stages of the transition towards the elections, insisting that only reforms necessary to conduct the elections on the date indicated should be implemented.

    The Chairman of the commission was instructed to compile and submit the list of individuals and groups of individuals involved in the alleged efforts to derail the Mali’s transition process for appropriate actions.

    ECOWAS leaders also called for support from the African Union, European Union, United Nations, and Multilateral and bilateral partners in the enforcement of the sanctions.

  • Guinea crisis: Osinbajo to represent Nigeria at ECOWAS meeting in Accra

    Guinea crisis: Osinbajo to represent Nigeria at ECOWAS meeting in Accra

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will on Thursday represent Nigeria at the 2nd Extraordinary Summit of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Governments on the political situation in the Republic of Guinea.

    Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Office of the Vice President disclosed this in a statement in Abuja.

    Osinbajo, had on Sept. 8, participated at a virtual ECOWAS Extraordinary Summit on the political situation in Guinea and Mali.

    The Authority had decided that Guinea be immediately suspended from all ECOWAS governing bodies and statutory meetings.

    ECOWAS leaders had also called for the immediate and unconditional release of President Alpha Conde and other arrested persons, demanded the immediate return of Guinea to constitutional order.

    They also decided to immediately dispatch a high-level ECOWAS mission to Guinea to assess the situation.

    The meeting on Thursday will review the situation in Guinea in light of the report of the ECOWAS high-level mission to Conakry.

    The vice president will be accompanied by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Amb. Zubairu Dada.

    He is expected back in Abuja later in the day.