25, January 2022
Africa Cup of Nations 2021: Lessons to be learned 0
The Africa Cup of Nations is usually a moment of joy and friendship; a time when people from all parts of Africa and other continents of the globe come together to enjoy a major feast of football and camaraderie.
The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations has generated the same enthusiam and joy despite the presence of a global pandemic which has threatened to upend the event.
Another issue which called into question the ability of the country’s authority was the state of preparedness which caused the Confederation of African Football to move the 2019 AfCON to Egypt. This was really a black eye for a country that is known for its footballing prowess.
But Cameroon has succeeded to build the stadiums despite the delays and numerous doubts. The sports infrastructure is world-class and the population is once more developing faith in the country’s football authorities.
But many things are not going as planned. Some details were ignored during the preparatory phase and this negligence points to the fact that some lessons still need to be learned.
Prominent anong those lessons is crowd management which was not taken seriously during the preparations. The consequences of this weakness reared their ugly heads yesterday during the Cameroon – Comoros game which resulted in the death of some 16 people while more than 40 are still recovering in hospitals in the country’s capital, Yaounde.
The government understands how Cameroonians love football and with young Cameroonians seeking to be at the center of this moving feast of football, it was supposed to have taken the right crowd management measures.
Many roads were supposed to have been blocked to ensure that there were no massive gatherings around the Olembe Stadium. The organizers were supposed to have anticipated lots of things, especially the pouring of crowds to the center of action.
Besides, the crowd should have been advised that only those with tickets would have access to the stadium and more police officers or gendarmerie officers should have been deployed to ensure security did not deteriorate very fast.
These measures were not taken and many young men without tickets walked long distances to the stadium only to be told that they would not be allowed into the stadium.
The decision of the few police officers on duty caused the crowd to breach the security perimeter, resulting in a stampede that led to many people losing their lives.
Crowd management remains a lesson to be learned, but it is not the only lesson. Traffic management is also one issue which is blighting the lives of the residents of the country’s major cities and this is only getting worse during the football festival.
Town planning and the building of road infrastructure are major issues in Cameroon and these problems have gotten worse as the country’s national team keeps winning its games.
The road leading to the Olembe Stadium where the host country’s national team has been playing is unbelievable narrow and this is causing massive traffic problems and the CAF president had to have a taste of what many Yaounde residents deal with on a daily basis yesterday.
He was held in traffic for hours and he only got to the stadium ten minutes to the end of yesterday’s game. This is no good news and it clearly hurts the country’s reputation.
Traffic should have been controlled from Nlongkak, Essos or the Central Post Office to ensure that dignatories made their way to the stadium with relative ease.
The occurrence of this unfortunate situation demonstrates that some important details were ignored during the preparatory phase.
These unfortunate situations have generated lessons and these lessons must be taken seriously if similar situations must be avoided, especially as Cameroon has qualified for the next phase of the competition.
By Joachim Arrey
26, January 2022
Scandals are forever for Biya regime as Africa Cup of Nations hosting crises drags on 0
The deadly crush outside a stadium at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon was caused by an access gate being closed for “inexplicable reasons”, according to the president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
Patrice Motsepe has called for an immediate investigation into the disaster in which eight people died and 38 were injured, seven of whom are in a serious condition.
The carnage happened ahead of Cameroon’s last-16 tie with Comoros on Monday night.
The organisers have moved the next match scheduled at the Olembe stadium, Sunday’s quarter-final, to the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde, the Cameroon capital.
It remains to be seen if the Paul Biya Stadium will host one of the semi-finals as well as the final on February 6, as previously planned.
Cameroon President Paul Biya also ordered an investigation into the tragedy, which came a day after at least 17 people died after a fire set off a series of explosions at a nightclub in Yaounde.
A witness said the stampede at the south entrance of the stadium happened after supporters were directed by security officials toward an entrance gate that was locked. The gate was eventually opened, the witness said, causing a surge and people were trampled. Children were caught up in the stampede, the witness said.
“When the security guys finally began opening the gates, with all the anxiety and after having been locked out … people pushed the security guys away and forced themselves inside,” said the witness, Marie-Therese Asongafack. “That’s where it all began … By the time I found myself in front, there were people on the ground being trampled on.”
Medical help wasn’t immediately available, “so people were just trying their basic first aid on victims,” Asongafack said. “I saw a child less than 10 years old, lifeless. Guys were trying to revive him.”
Motsebe said that there will be a meeting with organisers on Wednesday and that investigation report must be submitted by Friday.
“There is no excuse for what has happened. We must show responsibility when people lose their lives and are injured,” Motsepe said on Tuesday.
“What happened yesterday in terms of the proximity of people being allowed to the stadium in a manner that is not properly coordinated and governed will never happen again,” he added.
“I went to see where the people lost their lives and you see it’s a gate. That gate was supposed to be open. Because if it was open, they would have walked through and it was closed for inexplicable reasons.
“If that gate was open as it was supposed to, we wouldn’t have had this problem we have now, this loss of life.
“So of course, as part of the hearing, we want to know who closed that gate, who was responsible for that gate.
“Clearly there were deficiencies, clearly there were failures. There were weaknesses. There are things that should have been foreseen. We have to take emergency and urgent steps now.”
The stadium, which hosted the tournament’s opening ceremony, was built in preparation for the delayed competition, which kicked off earlier this month.
Stadiums have been operating at 80 per cent capacity during the Africa Cup of Nations due to restrictions placed on organisers because of the coronavirus pandemic.
But following a low turnout in the first round games at brand new stadiums Cameroon authorities had thrown open stadium gates, organised mass transport and given out free tickets to lure fans.
A minute silence will be observed before all remaining matches.
Sources: Reuters, AP