The east African regional soccer tournament kicks off this weekend amid news the Somali government has dissolved its football federation following differences with the sports minister, officials said.
Somali Football chief Abdigani Said Arap told the Council of the East and Central African Football Associations (CECAFA) Congress on Thursday that Sports Minister Mohamed Mohiadin Sheikh dissolved the football body on Tuesday. He did not give reasons.
Sources from the troubled Horn of African nation said the minister had demanded a luxury car and a house from the Somali Olympic Committee, which the latter declined.
"By dissolving the Olympic body's most active affiliate, the minister thinks he is punishing the Olympic body in the hope that they would cave in to his unnecessary demands," Arap told the Congress in the Tanzanian Indian Ocean port city and commercial capital Dar es Salaam.
CECAFA officials were upbeat about the kick off of their tournament, saying they would wait for world governing body FIFA's intervention, which could include banning Somalia from international competition.
"We would rather concentrate on this tournament than comment on such political matters," CECAFA General Secretary Nicholas Musonye told reporters on Thursday.
Eight teams have arrived for the region's most popular tournament, with a guest team invited from Zimbabwe after Namibia pulled out at the last minute.
Regular campaigners are Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda Burundi, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea and Djibouti. South Sudan are yet to attain full status.
The highlights of the four-day congress were the re-election of Tanzania's former international Leodegar Tenga for another four-year term as president and a proposal by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda for a joint bid for the 2017 African Nations Cup finals.
After deliberations, only two of the nations will put forward a joint bid.
Tenga's would-be opponent to run the region's most powerful football body, Fadu Hussein from Djibouti, was unable to travel to Dar es Salaam for unknown reasons.
Source: Reuters
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