The Confederation of African Football (CAF) confirmed that the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations scheduled for Morocco next year will be taking place as planned.
There have been concerns about the tournament taking place at the time there has been an outbreak of Ebola that has affected some of the African countries.
"At its meeting on Sunday November 02nd 2014 in Algiers, the Executive Committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) considered the request of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Morocco on the postponement of the 2015 Orange Africa Cup of Nations. Unanimity was reached on keeping the competition on the dates originally agreed; namely from January 17 to February 8, 2015, for the following reasons:
"Since the beginning of the latest outbreak of the Ebola virus, CAF has always acted in accordance with the precautionary principle of safeguarding lives by strictly adhering to the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO). This was enforced through a circular dated 12 August 2014 which sanctioned the suspension of all CAF competitions in countries heavily affected by the disease; Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, so as to prevent holding football matches that could result in mass gatherings and could facilitate the spread of the virus.
"Furthermore, CAF has then been able to organize peacefully all competitions across the continent since April 2014 with no cases of Ebola reported in connection with the organization of a football match.
"The WHO reiterated CAF recommendations in a letter dated 14 October 2014 and re-confirmed in a press release issued on 23 October, 2014 that it did not recommend the cancellation of international meetings and mass gatherings in countries other than those affected," cafonline.com revealed.
Among the other points that came out of the meeting is that there have been no cases of Ebola in Morocco. Further decisions that are related to the Afcon can be expected in a meeting of the executive committee in Egypt on November 11.
