Accra (Greater Accra) 25 June '99

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr E. T. Mensah, on Thursday inaugurated a 13-member Local Organising Committee (LOC) for next January's Africa Nations' Cup to be co-hosted by Ghana and Nigeria.

The committee, chaired by the Chairman of the Ghana Football Association, Alhaji M. N. D. Jawula, has an additional task of organising the Zone Two Supreme Council for Sports' five-nation tournament, scheduled for Ghana from Saturday July 31 to Sunday August eight.

The participating countries for the five-nation tournament are Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso.

The Minister said the Confederation of African Football (CAF) described the organisation of the 11th African Under-20 tournament as superb, adding that there is the need for the current LOC to build upon it.

He said members whose output falls below expectation would be expelled from the committee.

Ten sub-committees were also inaugurated to support the works of the main committee.

They are finance, media, medical, ceremonies/playing grounds, public relations/documentation/information, protocol, accommodation, transport, security and technical.

According to CAF programmes, Ghana will host the CAF congress and the opening ceremony, while Nigeria will host the closing ceremony.

Ghana, Nigeria and defending champions, Egypt have qualified automatically - and will be joined by 13 other countries - for the month-long soccer fiesta.

The 16 teams will be grouped into four - two in Ghana, two in Nigeria - for the preliminary round.