Paris (AFP) - Angola announced
on Wednesday they were not interested in replacing Morocco as eleventh
hour hosts of the crisis-hit 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.
Angola's decision leaves three potential candidates - Egypt, Gabon and Nigeria - to put on the continental showcase.
Morocco
were stripped of the right to host it after insisting on a
postponement, citing as their reason the deadly Ebola epidemic.
Morocco's stance irked organisers the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
The
federation's president, Issa Hayatou, told France24: "To postpone the
Africa Cup of Nations would be like stopping African football dead."
"Once
you postpone this event, it will open the door for everybody to ask for
a delay of any competition and we will no longer be credible," added
the 68-year-old Cameroonian who has been in office since 1988.
Angola
had emerged as one of the front runners to come to the aid of the
troubled 2015 Nations Cup which is due to start in two months time, on
January 17.
The oil-rich
state's insistence that they were not interested in hosting a
competition they staged in 2010 came from Joao Lusevikueno, vice
president of the Angolan football federation.
He told AFP by telephone
from Luanda: "Angola is not going to host the competition, we haven't
presented our candidature and it is not our intention to do so."
He
added that to step in and organise a competition of this scale in two
months -- it is due to start on January 17 -- was "virtually
impossible".Angola's staging of the 2010 Nations Cup was marred by the attack on the Togo team bus by separatists in the restless enclave of Cabinda which killed two people.
With
Angola out of the picture the countries thought to be still in
contention for taking over from Morocco as 2015 hosts are multiple
African champions Egypt, Gabon, which co-hosted the 2012 edition with
Equatorial Guinea, and reigning champions Nigeria.
Organisers the Confederation of African Football are due to announce the next hosts "in two or three days" Hayatou said.
The Cup was thrown into jeopardy in early October when Morocco first called for a delay.CAF however eventually lost patience with the north African country and on Tuesday barred them out as hosts and participants with a heavy fine likely to follow.
The fact that Morocco are
also set to host the Club World Cup, only 25 days before the scheduled
January 17 kickoff, threw further doubts over Morocco's reasons
prompting Hayatou and his members to pull the plug.
Rumours
that the three-week football feast could be moved outside Africa with
2022 World Cup hosts Qatar an unprecedented option were quickly
dismissed by Qatar Football Association vice-president Saud
al-Muhannadin.
"It is illogical, the news is false." he told AFP.
Moroccan
sports minister Mohamed Ouzzine defended their stance and said they had
simply asked for a postponement, until the Ebola disease was brought
under control.
"The CAF statement said we refuse to organise the
Nations Cup, and it's wrong. We want the tournament in our country, but
we maintain our demand to postpone it," Ouzzine told parliament.
"The
WHO (World Health Organisation) says that every country has the right
to take the necessary measures to protect its citizens. The whole world
is incapable to find some treatment or some solution for that disease
(Ebola), so isn't it a force majeure?
"We can talk about sanctions now, but we should not forget what would happen in case we have not taken our decision."
CAF
executive committee member Constant Omari defended the decision to
strip the 1976 winners of the right to stage what would have been their
second tournament, after 1988, when they reached the semi-finals.
"The
CAF put no pressure on Morocco but they are a member who belong to the
CAN (Nations Cup). We signed an agreement that the CAN would be
organised between January 17 and February 8 and there was no talk of
postponement during the inspections. "Then two months before the tournament, Morocco decide they want to change the dates.
"These dates have not been decided randomly, it is a season when all of Africa has a period of more or less dry weather. We have incorporated these dates into the universal FIFA calendar and it is our showcase event."
The
CAF also confirmed that qualification matches for the tournament will
go ahead as planned on November 14-15 with the final round of matches
set four days later.