The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Egypt

  • U-23 Nations Cup: Nigeria to know opponents October 2 in Cairo

     

    Nigeria’s Under 23 side otherwise called the Olympic Eagles will know their opponents in the U-23 Africa cup of Nations tournament holding in Egypt on Wednesday October 2nd.

    The draw of the event was originally scheduled for October 3rd but has been moved backwards by 24 hours following CAF/Local Organising Committee parley,

    The draw will however still take place at the same venue at the Montaza Palace, in Alexandria.

    The Eight African countries that will lock horns in the championship are Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Mali, South Africa, Zambia and hosts Egypt.

    The championship will hold from November 8 to 22nd with all matches expected to be played at the Cairo International Stadium and Al Salam Stadium respectively.

    Nigeria U-23 coach Imama Amakapabo

    CAF in a statement said, “The representatives of the qualified teams are expected to be in attendance at the October 2nd draw

    The top three finishers at the final tournament will qualify to represent Africa at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

    Hosts Egypt, who qualified automatically for the continental championship, will be seeded along with Nigeria, who won the last tournament in 2015 and went onto take bronze at the Rio Olympics.

    Cameroon, who won Olympic gold in Sydney in 2000, and Ghana, who took bronze in Barcelona in 1992, are the other two countries in the field who have had previous Olympic success.

    Recall that Egypt also hosted this year’s Nations cup where Algeria emerged Champions after beating Senegal by a lone goal.

  • UPDATED: Morocco beat Ivory Coast 1-0 to reach AFCON Round of 16

    Morocco reached the knockout stage of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) after beating Ivory Coast 1-0 on Friday to serve notice that they are one of the sides to beat at the tournament in Egypt.

    Youssef En-Nesyri’s 23rd-minute goal ensured a second win in Group D for Morocco, who move onto six points and join fellow heavyweights Nigeria, Egypt and Algeria with a 100 per cent record.

    Read Also: Mali expel player from 2019 AFCON

    The win came after a polished performance by the North African side, one of the pre-tournament favourites but whose only success in the continental championship came 43 years ago.

    The goal was brilliantly crafted by Noureddine Amrabat’s mazy run as he eliminated four players, before a short ‘no-look’ pass set up En-Nesyri for a left-footed finish.

  • Breaking: AFCON 2019: Egypt advance to round of sixteeen

    The Pharaohs of Egypt are through to the round of sixteen of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nation news.

    They beat DR Congo 2-0, both goals coming from Ahmed El Mohamady and Mohammed Salah.

    It should be recalled that they beat Zimbabwe 1-0 in the first match of the competition.

     

     

    Details Shortly

  • Egypt and Morsi’s ghost

    The sudden death of Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s former president, marked the end of a personal odyssey.

    But it could well open another odyssey  — and tragedy — for Egypt, as a country, in terms of Islamist unrests.

    So, sitting President, Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the military chief that toppled Morsi’s government; and later won a controversial election to become president, had better brace his country for the worst.

    Morsi, who fainted and collapsed in court on June 17, and was later confirmed dead in hospital, was a worrying symbol — of the paradox of both the possibilities and limitations of democracy, in a modern, heterogeneous and secular society.

    Morsi, candidate of the highly organized Egypt Muslim Brotherhood, won democratic election as president,  though an Islamist candidate, in a modern, secular state with a predominant Muslim population.

    Morsi’s party was hardly dominant.  Still, they nicked the election, 51-49 per cent, a wafer-thin margin — what political scientists would call a “hung” mandate.

    That behoved President Morsi to run an all-inclusive administration, if only to appease and assure the secularists, among whom the dominant Egyptian military — and many, if not most — of the elite rank counted themselves.

    But Morsi failed; and therefore triggered the mass protests that led to his ouster.  Beyond that tragic rigidity, spawning the wrong temper for the wrong season, however, Morsi committed no crime, beyond winning a democratic election — and  the most democratic in Egypt’s history to boot!

    Since his 2013 overthrow, however, Morsi has for six years become a living ghost, condemned to a life in gaol, between appearances in courts, the last of which witnessed his collapse and death.

    Morsi’s has sparked a philosophical question, on the reach and limits of democracy: if democracy means freedom of choice, among other freedoms, could a man like Morsi be punished for fealty to his faith, which he had a democratic right to, even if the secular majority viewed him with suspicion — if not outright fear?

    If the answer is no, then there is fear for Egypt, with its chequered post-Hosni Mubarak instability.

    Before June 17, Morsi was a living ghost, buried in the open grave of state prison, his Muslim Brotherhood not unlike a snake dazed, but with its head intact.

    Now, his sudden death, in a state court, on some spying in connection with Hamas, the extremist Palestine Islamist militant group, has transformed him into a real and potent ghost, bound to haunt Egypt for some time to come.

    Indeed, Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s Morsi equivalent who somewhat succeeded in his own Islamist agenda, even with Turkey’s secular generals screaming and kicking, just captured the buzz word: Morsi just became the martyr for Egypt’s Islamism!

    That hardly bodes well for Egypt — and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi sure has his job cut out for him.  For regional security, Egypt is key.  If it goes on the boil, a new wave of Middle East inferno might just be blinking.

    Which is why the Egyptian authorities must take preventive measures to ensure things don’t get out of hand, even if Morsi’s ghost haunts, as it probably will.

     

     

  • Expect tough AFCON, Appiah tells players

    Adeyinka Akintunde

     

    Former Ghanaian midfielder, Stephen Appiah, has advised participating teams and players to prepare well for the African Cup of Nations holding in Egypt.

    He said only good teams would do well in the apex football competition in the continent.

    Appiah, who was part of the Black Stars team to the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations, said in an interview over the weekend at the Agege Stadium, Lagos that he wishes all the teams  operate at their best because it is not going to be easy to win.

    Read Also: 2019 AFCON: Rohr lists Mikel, 23 others

    “The Africa Cup of Nations has been expanded from 16 to 24 teams. We just have to accept it. Players have to be ready for the Nations Cup this time around. It is not like going straight to the quarter-finals, there is the Round of 16 to cross, so it will be difficult.

    “But I wish all the participating countries the best of luck in the tournament,” he stated.

    Appiah, when asked who will win the 2019 AFCON, said : “Ghana will definitely win the Nations Cup”.

  • Mohamed Salah canvasses better treatment for Women

     

    Two time African footballer of the year and Egyptian football star Mohamed Salah has called for change in the way women are treated in the Muslim world, in an interview with Time magazine published Wednesday.

    The 26-year-old Liverpool forward was named one of the US magazine’s 100 most influential figures of the year, alongside other athletes including Tiger Woods, LeBron James and Naomi Osaka.

    Salah told Time that while his attitudes towards gender equality had evolved over the years, he wanted to see more change.

    “I think we need to change the way we treat women in our culture,” Salah was quoted as saying. “It’s not optional.”

    He said the treatment of women “in my culture and in the Middle East” had changed his opinions on gender issues.

    “I support the woman more than I did before, because I feel like she deserves more than what they give her now, at the moment,” Salah told the magazine.

    Salah is an icon in Egypt after helping the country qualify for the 2018 World Cup, the first time they had reached the finals of the event since 1990.

    He was named African Footballer of the Year in 2017 and 2018 and was also English football’s Player of the Year in 2017-2018 following a dazzling season with Liverpool.

    He told Time he has learned to cope with the “little bit of pressure” that comes with his elevated profile, while expressing pride at being regarded as a role model.

    “To be the first Egyptian in (this) situation and no one has done this before… it’s something different,” he said, insisting that superstardom had not changed his lifestyle.

    “I just live my life normal,” he said. “Most of the time I stay at home; I don’t like to go out.”

    Salah’s submission is likely to gladden the heart of some who believe that the women need to be given additional freedom to be able to express themselves and also prove their ability to achieve results in some area of human endeavors.

    Salah, who made a huge impact as Liverpool zoomed into the semifinals of the Champions League, is being banked upon to lead the Pharaohs in a possible host and win outing when the Nations cup begins in June this year in Egypt. The Pharaohs are eyeing their 8th title after winning the continental diadem seven times in the past.

  • 2019 ITTF: Nigeria beats Egypt to boys’ doubles title

    Nigeria again showed that he has usurp the dominance of Egypt as the duo of Azeez Solanke and Jamiu Ayanwale claimed the junior boys’ doubles title at the expense of Egypt’s Marwan Abdelwahab and Gawad Elherazy at the 2019 2019 ITTF African Junior and Cadet Championships.

    Having eliminated Nigeria’s pair of Abayomi Animashaun and Augustine Emmanuel in the semifinal round of the event, the Egyptians were not given breathing space by Solanke and Ayanwale in the final.

    From the start to the end of the encounter, the Nigerians were all over the place dictating the pace of the match and again halting the dominance of Egypt in the doubles.

    To claim the fourth gold, Solanke and Ayanwale defeated the Egyptian teenagers 3-0 to emerge as the new boys’ doubles champions.

    Read also: 2019 ITTF: Nigeria thwarts Egypt’s dominance in team event

    Another gold medal is also certain for Nigeria in the cadet boys’ singles as it will be a Nigeria affair in the final between Ayanwale and Taiwo Matti.

    This is a repeat of the WJC cadet final in which Matti won the title for Nigeria to dominate the WJC ahead of the Europeans.

    Over 21 countries took part in the one-week championship with Nigeria and Egypt qualifying for the World Junior Championships (WJC) holding in Thailand later in the year.

  • Nigeria battles Egypt for supremacy in singles

    The battle for supremacy in the singles between Nigeria and Egypt continues at the ITTF African Junior and Cadet Championships on Friday April 12 in Accra, Ghana.

    With the conclusion of the team events, the individual events – singles and doubles take centre stage at the ongoing ITTF African Junior and Cadet Championships holding in Accra, Ghana.

    Nigeria and Egypt are the cynosure of all eyes again in singles and doubles as the race for new champions in the event reach crucial stage on Friday April 12.

    In the boys’ junior and U-21, Nigeria’s Azeez Solanke and Egypt’s Mamoud Helmy have been tipped as favourites having guided their teams in the team event with Helmy yet to taste defeat in the competition. The only defeat suffered by Solanke was against Helmy in the semifinal of the U-21 which was won by Nigeria.

    Already, some players have been shown the exit in the doubles and mixed doubles events while the singles event enter knockout round as the seeded players take to the table in their quest to mount the podium.

    From the number of medals won so far, Nigeria seems to be topping with three gold medals and two silvers while Egypt are playing second fiddle to the West African giant in the competition.

    In the women’s singles, the battle for the titles will be among Nigeria, Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria.

    According to African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), the quality of play continues to improve especially with the commencement of the singles event with over 180 players competing for the six gold medals at stake in singles and doubles events.

     

  • AFCON 2019: Eagles may play in a military zone

    The Super Eagles of Nigeria may use the Cairo International Stadium, a military prone venue on the outskirts of city, and the controversial Port Said Stadium for their group matches at this year’s Africa Cup of Nations.

    This indication emerges as the host country; Egypt has confirmed the two stadium among the six venues across five cities for this year’s Nations Cup.

    The Cairo Military Academy Stadium is located has a total capacity of 28,500. It was one of six stadiums used in the 2006 African Cup of Nations, held in Egypt.

    Seven miles up the road from Cairo International Stadium, heading for Cairo International Airport, there is the Academy Stadium at the far end of Orouba Street in the north-eastern Heliopolis district of Cairo.

    It was built in 1989 for the use of military teams and students at the military academy. The ground accommodated home games of Al Ahly and Zamalek during the refurbishing of the Cairo International Stadium and occasionally still serves to stage matches of the old foes.

    The stadium has a small roof extension serving as a cover for the main stand. On demand, during matches rent-a-crowd military cadets serve as ground-fillers in addition to the sparse paying spectators for football matches.

    Read Also: CAF names Egypt host of 2019 AFCON

    The venues for the new-look 24-team tournament were decided by the Egypt Football Association (EFA), who have also named Alexandria, Ismailia and Suez.

    “We had initially proposed eight sites for the tournament but after an inspection by a Caf [Confederation of African Football] delegation, we chose only six,” EFA spokesman Ahmed Megahed said.

    The Cairo International Stadium has remained largely unused since the Arab Spring and the subsequent restriction on attendance at football in Egypt.

    But the iconic Cairo venue, which can hold up to 75 000 spectators and generate an intimidating atmosphere, is due to make a return, having been the site of three previous Nations Cup finals in 1974, 1986 and 2006 and numerous African Champions League deciders.

    The Port Said Stadium achieved infamy in 2012 when more than 70 people died in Egypt’s worst sporting disaster after rioting at a league game between hosts Al Masry and Al Ahly.

    The stadium was renovated after the disaster and Al Masry were only allowed to return there last year.

    The Air Force Stadium in Cairo replaces Al Salam Stadium, which had been originally proposed but is being used to host matches of two Cairo clubs – Ahly and El Entag Al Harby.

    With the local league only due to finish in the weeks before the Nations Cup kicks off on 21 June, there will be no time to spruce up that stadium for the tournament, Megahed explained.

    “It was decided then to replace it with the Air Force Stadium, which is also called the June 30 Stadium,” he said.

    The Alexandria Stadium and Ismailia Stadium both return as venues after also serving in 2006. The Suez Sports Stadium has a capacity of 27 000.

    The organisers are yet to give details about which venue will host the semi-finals and final. Those are expected to be finalised before the 12 April draw in Cairo.

    The Confederation of African Football chose Egypt in early January to take over as host of the 2019 finals from Cameroon.

    2019 Africa Cup of Nations Stadiums:

    Cairo International Stadium

    Air Force Stadium

    Port Said Stadium

    Ismailia Stadium

    Suez Sport Stadium

    Alexandria Stadium

  • Looters stashing funds in Seychelles, South Africa, Niger, Ghana, says Magu

    The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ibrahim Magu on Friday said looters now stash illicit funds in African countries such as Ghana, Egypt, Cameroon, South Africa, Niger Republic, Morocco and others.

     He said the preferred destinations for looters have traditionally been the United Kingdom, United States, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Seychelles but they have started expanding down home to African countries.

    Magu made the disclosures at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and its Niger Republic counterpart, the High Authority Against Corruption and Relating Crimes (HALCIA) in Niamey.

    He said: “From available intelligence and our investigations, it has been revealed that looters from Nigeria now go to Ghana, Egypt, Cameroon, South Africa, Equatorial Guinea, Niger Republic, Morocco, Seychelles and so on, to stash their loots.

    “This has led to sharp increase in the number of Nigerians buying properties in African countries.

    “Nigerians “even go to the extent of changing their names and acquiring the destination countries’ international passports in collusion with corrupt public officers in their countries of residence in order to hide their identities and evade detection.”

    Read also: Ganduje promises to welcome back Kwankwaso to APC if…

    He said: “the fight of the EFCC against looters’ safe havens is total.”

    The EFCC boss further disclosed his visit to Niger Republic was part of his continuing tour at mobilizing international efforts against looters’ safe havens.

    He added: “We have already visited Ghana and Cameroun, today we are in Niger Republic and we will continue to reach out to other preferred looters destinations in Africa and beyond.

    “Interestingly, the efforts of the Nigerian Government to trace, recover and return assets stolen from Nigeria coupled with our increased advocacy to discourage safe havens have begun to yield results.

    “It is my conviction that our collaborative efforts will go a long way in eliminating safe havens.

    “In fact, this is in tandem with renewed global commitment by countries to shut their doors to stolen funds.

    “I also want to call for conscious measures to sanitize and strengthen the legal framework so as to make it difficult for looters to transfer illicit funds to Niger Republic for investment or whatever purpose.”

    He called on the global community to urgently redouble its efforts towards strengthening the mechanisms for dismantling safe havens for proceeds of corruption.

    He also called on the international community to ensure the return of stolen funds and assets to their countries of origin.

    According to a statement by Acting Head of Media and Publicity of EFCC, Mr. Tony Orilade, the MoU will strengthen the collaborative efforts between the Nigerian front row anti-corruption agency and that of its Niger Republic counterpart.

    HALCIA, which is the agency in charge of the prevention and fight against corruption and related offences in Niger Republic was established by the country’s Law No 2016-44 of December 06, 2016.

    The signing of the document followed a two-day working visit to Niger Republic by the EFCC Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu.