By OUR CORRESPONDENT
Eleven officials from the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) Zone have been selected to officiate at the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) slated for January 13th to February 11th, 2024 in Cote d’Ivoire.
The officials include six referees, three assistants, and two VAR referees selected from Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia, Djibouti, and Sudan.
Rwanda’s Salima Rhadia Mukansanga, the only female selected from the Zone will this time work as a VAR referee. Mukansanga who became the first female referee to officiate at the AFCON in 2022 has also officiated at the Olympic Games, Africa Women’s Cup of Nations, Africa Women’s Champions League, FIFA Women’s World Cup and the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Ethiopia’s experienced Tessema Weyesa Bamlak, Peter Waweru Kamaku (Kenya), Samuel Uwikunda (Rwanda), Omar Abdulkadir Artan (Somalia), Pacifique Ndabihawenimana (Burundi) and Sudan’s Mahmood Ali Mahmood Ismail are part of the 26 referees selected.
The Kenyan duo of Gilbert Cheriyot and Stephen Yiembe, together with Libam Aboulrazack (Djibouti) are among the 30 assistant referees selected, while Mukansanga and Sudan’s Ibrahim Abdallah Mohamed are part of the 12 VAR referees.
Tanzania, who qualified from the CECAFA Zone will be part of the 23 other teams that will tussle it out in the competition to be hosted in five cities. Senegal are the defending champions.
Group A: Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau
Group B: Egypt, Ghana, Cape Verde, Mozambique
Group C: Senegal, Cameroon, Guinea, Gambia
Group D: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Angola
Group E: Tunisia, Mali, South Africa, Namibia
Group F: Morocco, DR Congo, Zambia, Tanzania
