Libya Still To Host Soccer's African Cup of Nations

(NewsCore) - LONDON -- Libya is still to host the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations soccer tournament, despite the violence that has swept the country since the popular uprising began against leader Colonel Moammar Gadhafi in February, the secretary-general of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) said Tuesday.

Hicham El Amrani conceded, though, that the governing body for the sport on the continent was considering its options and that a meeting of the CAF executive committee in September could decide to switch the venue.

"Of course we are thinking about it as a matter of priority," he told the BBC.

"All the tournaments that Libya has agreed to host -- not only the Africa Cup of Nations but also the CHAN [African Nations Championship] and the Futsal Championship next year are today still [to be] held in Libya.

"At the same time the CAF executive committee is thinking about plan Bs or plan Cs.

"We agreed an internal timeline [for the] latest moment at which we should decide on switching the tournament to another venue but as of today the Nations Cup of 2013 is still in Libya."

Libya has enjoyed little success at international level soccer, despite the ruling Gadhafi family being fanatical fans of the sport and having invested heavily in it both at home and abroad -- including in Italian giants Juventus. The country has already had one tournament taken away because of the unrest.

CAF removed the African Under 20 championships from Libya on March 3 and later handed it to South Africa.

"It was a challenge; when it became clear that it was impossible to organize it, we only had about five weeks to look for another host," El Amrani added.

"We were grateful to have South Africa ready to host -- they did a terrific job."

A popular uprising against the strongman that began in mid-February has left the oil-rich North African state split between the largely Gadhafi -controlled west and the rebel east.

Since the beginning of the uprising on February 15, between 10,000 and 15,000 have been killed and 925,000 have fled their homes, according to the UN. Thousands of immigrant laborers and other foreigners have also fled Libya.

Copyright 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.