Lhe African Cup of Nations (CAN) opens this Sunday, January 9 in Cameroon following a postponement to 2021 due to Covid, but the challenges remain multiple for this vast Central African country populated by 27 million inhabitants and led with an iron fist for 39 years by the same man, Paul Biya.
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The health challenge
The evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic and its variant Omicron, in a country whose inhabitants protect themselves and are vaccinated very little, is “a huge challenge”, said on December 21 Patrice Motsepe, the president of the African Confederation football (CAF), when the insistent rumor predicted a further postponement or cancellation.
In this context, the draconian rules established by his institution risk dissuading supporters from coming to the stadium en masse. A complete cycle of vaccination and a negative PCR test of less than 72 hours must be combined. A 60% fill gauge will also be introduced, raised to 80% when the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon play.
However, Patrice Motsepe has already admitted to being aware of the proliferation of “false tests”.
Cameroon has recorded nearly 110,000 contaminations and 1,840 deaths since the start of the pandemic. According to the latest figures from the Minister of Health, around 6% of the population over the age of 18 is vaccinated.
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Insecurity and threats
Anglophone armed separatists and jihadists from Boko Haram and the Islamic State (IS) lead deadly attacks in the west and far north respectively, but experts fear they will profit from the organization of a competition very publicized to commit in the big cities.
For four years, the regions – inhabited mainly by the English-speaking minority – of the South-West and the North-West have been in the grip of a bloody conflict between armed groups demanding independence and the security forces, both sides committing crimes. and atrocities, accuse the NGOs and the UN.
Some armed groups have promised to disrupt the competition and have sent threatening letters to teams that will play in Limbé and train in Buea, in the southwest.
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An organization on the wire
The successive delays in the construction of stadiums and the cost of infrastructure are regularly controversial.
Chosen in 2014 to host CAN 2019, Cameroon was replaced by Egypt because it was not ready. Two years later, another postponement of the 2021 edition, this time officially because of the Covid-19 epidemic, but while major infrastructures were not completed.
A symbol: the delays in the completion of the Olembé sports complex in Yaoundé, the largest stadium, which will finally host the opening match on Sunday following many doubts while its surroundings have not yet been completed.
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Football at the heart of internal political issues
President Paul Biya, 88, has authoritatively ruled his country for nearly four decades. However, he ostensibly made the organization of the CAN a priority to restore his image considerably tarnished on the international scene since yet another highly contested presidential victory in 2018 and a fierce repression of any opposition since.
At the end of December, dozens of activists from the main opposition party received sentences of up to seven years in prison for “peaceful marches” once morest the regime.
In Yaoundé, the portrait of Paul Biya often accompanies CAN posters. “He has always used football as a political instrument to bring Cameroonians together and surf on their successes,” recalls Jean-Bruno Tagne, author of the Tragedy of the Indomitable Lions.
However, part of the opposition and civil society denounced the “indecency” of the cost of organizing the CAN in a country where the poverty rate is nearly 40% and a third of the inhabitants live with it. equivalent of less than two euros per day, according to the World Bank. “If Cameroon wins, Cameroonians can forget everything. But if that goes wrong, it will take scapegoats and heads will surely fall, ”said political scientist Stéphane Akoa.
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