The stampede that killed eight people Monday in Yaoundé, before a match of the African Cup of Nations, was due to the “reckless” opening of a door by the security forces “in the face of a human tide”, a said the Cameroonian Minister of Sports on Friday.
“This entrance was temporarily closed by the police in the face of the surge of spectators while other doors were operational,” assured Narcisse Mouelle Kombi to the press. “Faced with the pressure and overwhelmed by this human tide, the security elements proceeded recklessly to open the southern entrance, causing a great scramble” which ended in tragedy, he continued.
“Who closed this door? »
The minister also acknowledged that the number of members of the security forces was “insufficient”. But he also blamed the holders of counterfeit and used tickets and the supporters who wanted to enter without a ticket, to justify this influx in front of the South door.
In the followingmath of the tragedy, which also left 38 injured, the president of the African Cootball Confederation (CAF), Patrice Motsepe, announced the move of the quarter-final scheduled for Sunday from the Olembé stadium to the second stadium in the capital, Ahmadou Ahidjo. He also announced that CAF would not allow other matches to be played there if the Cameroonian authorities did not present him with an investigation report before Friday.
Motsepe had already indicated on Tuesday that the jostling was linked to the closing of one of the gates to the stadium. He had deemed this decision “inexplicable”. “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? “, he had hammered in front of the press. “It is only following the detailed report that we will make the decision whether or not to return to Olembé”, the largest stadium in the country, built for the occasion and where a semi-final is scheduled for Thursday and the final on February 6, he warned. “There will be zero tolerance” for situations “which might lead to injuries and deaths at the stadium”, had already warned the head of African football.