The Organizing Committee of the Africa Cup of Nationsmeeting this Wednesday announced that it has required security guarantees that “an incident similar” to the avalanche that caused eight deaths last Monday at the Olembe stadium will not be repeated, announced that the semifinal scheduled on that field will not be played there until “the report of the investigation commission has not been received” and transferred three games, two quarterfinals and the other semifinal, from the cities of Douala and Garova to the Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium in Yaoundé.
“The next match initially scheduled at the Olembé stadium will not take place until CAF and the local organizing committee have received the full report from the investigation commission indicating the circumstances and events that led to the injury and death of the spectators. at the Olembé stadium,” he explained about the decisions made by the Disciplinary Committee of the African Football Confederation.
The Organizing Committee of the African Cup, at the same time, demanded “guarantees that adequate measures have been implemented to ensure that a similar incident does not happen again” at the tournament.
It also agreed to move three matches to the Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium in Yaoundé: next Sunday’s quarterfinal matches Egypt-Morocco and Senegal against the winner of Mali-Equatorial Guinea, in addition to the first semifinal on February 2, initially scheduled for Douala.
Last Monday, eight people died and 38 were injured in an avalanche of fans at the entrance to the Olembe stadium, in Yaoundé, before the start of the match of the round of 16 of the African Cup of Nations between the host team, Cameroon, and Comoros.
The event occurred about 45 minutes before the start of the match, when the fans pushed one of the entrance barriers to the stadium, according to the regional governor, Paul Bea.