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The Indomitable Lions will come out of their lair in Yaoundé. Saturday, January 29, Cameroon will face, at 5 p.m., the surprising Gambia in the quarter-finals of the African Cup of Nations (CAN), in Douala. The selection of the host country thus leaves, for the first time, its new home: the Olembé stadium. This ring surrounded by colored scales, carefully placed about ten kilometers from the center of the capital, was to be the promise of a grand tournament. But since the start of the competition, the CAN has chained drama, crises and controversies.
First, the Olembé stadium, which also bears the name of Paul Biya, the country’s president for nearly four decades, seems cursed. Delays in its construction had contributed to the decision of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to relocate the 2019 edition from Cameroon to Egypt. Then, on January 24, during the round of 16 between the Indomitable Lions and the Comoros (2-1), “the great celebration of African football”as officials say, turns to tragedy. That evening, eight people, including a child and two women, were killed on the asphalt of the arena, trampled in a stampede near the South gate.
The next day, during an emergency press conference, the president of CAF, Patrice Motsepe, explained, after asking for a moment of meditation and presenting his condolences to the families of the victims, that this tragedy was linked to the closure of one of the stadium’s access gates. A decision “inexplicable” for him. “If that door had been opened the way it should have been, we wouldn’t have had the problem we have now, these loss of life. Who closed this door? Who is responsible for this door? », repeated the South African in front of the journalists. At the end of November 2021, the general secretary of CAF, Véron Mosengo-Omba, had written to the Minister of Sports of Cameroon, Narcisse Mouelle Kombi, to inform him of “serious concerns about the organization of the tournament”.
Tragedy “without justification”
Faced with this tragedy which also injured around forty people, CAF decided that the duel Egypt-Morocco, scheduled for Olembé on Sunday, would be moved to the Ahmadou-Ahidjo stadium in Yaoundé; the institution also demanded that a full report of the commission of inquiry into the stampede be given to it no later than this Friday. For now, we do not know if the other matches (semi-finals and final) will be maintained in Olembé. Should the competition be stopped? ” No. It’s unfortunate, but life goes on. Let’s hope this doesn’t happen again.”assures Awa Fonka Augustine, governor of the West region. “This drama has no justification insofar as Cameroon has had time to prepare this CAN”asserts Mourad Zeghidi, Tunisian journalist, specialist in African football.
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