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INSIDE AFRICA

African Cup of Nations Gets Under Way in Egypt; New Efforts to Promote Golf in Africa

Aired January 21, 2006 - 12:30:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISHA SESAY, GUEST HOST (voice-over): Today on INSIDE AFRICA, the mother of all football competitions on the continent -- the African Cup of Nations gets under way. Egypt plays host to the thousands converging on Cairo.

At last, teeing up in Africa. New efforts to increase the greens on the continent.

And a hard look at stories making news in Africa, from Ivory Coast protests to a preview of the African Union summit.

It all starts now on INSIDE AFRICA.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Hello, I'm Isha Sesay. Welcome to INSIDE AFRICA, our weekly look at news and life on the continent.

Sixteen teams face off in the African Cup of Nations starting this weekend. The competition is fierce, but one of the biggest jobs is playing host to the games and the guests. Egypt has that honor. Shahira Amin reports.

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SHAHIRA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Giant billboards erected on Cairo's main streets remind football fans that a major cup is being held here. Most show Hassah Shehata, the coach, standing tall in the middle, flanked by some of the national team's top scorers. "16 Nations, 1 Cup" reads this billboard, but here in Egypt all eyes are on just one team, the home team.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We wish our national team all the best.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope Egypt wins.

AMIN: Still, life in this bustling metropolis of 17 million goes on pretty much as usual. Many Cairoans too preoccupied with earning their livelihoods to pay much attention to the tournament. Security, already tight, has been beefed up further. Police are taking no chances after the country suffered a series of terrorist attacks in the past year, two of them in Cairo.

And Cairo's streets are, as always, congested. This taxi driver says, as you can see, traffic is heavy, and the streets will be even busier once the tournament begins. But if the championship is good for the economy, then our guests are very welcome here.

According to the organizers, 30,000 of 45,000 foreign visitors are expected in Egypt during the tournament, a third of them from neighboring Libya. But some analysts fear the event was poorly marketed, and caution against expecting major economic gains.

ALAA SADEK, SPORTS COLUMNIST: Anything from the African Cup of Nations is nil (ph). We are not going to make a profit. We don't know anything about marketing.

AMIN: Sadek says that Cairo games are underfunded. The entire budget is 22 million Egyptian pounds -- that's $3.5 million U.S. Tunisia, he says, spent more than that on the opening ceremony alone, when it hosted the last African Nations Cup in 2004.

Egyptian organizers admit that their budget for the cup is indeed limited, but argue that their motives go beyond making financial gains.

KHALED ABDEL AZIZ, TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR: It's true that we've been running on a very tight budget, but we've used all of our resources to organize a tournament that will boost Egypt's image abroad.

AMIN: At a press conference before the opening ceremony, members of the organizing committee praised the Egyptian ministries of tourism, communications, information and defense for cooperating on the big event. One example of their concerted efforts: This state-of-the-art press center, and a Web site in three languages, to keep soccer fans around the world posted minute by minute on the tournament's developments.

But the greatest challenge faced by the organizing committee was renovating Egypt's long-neglected stadiums. Budget constraints and a time limit made it practically impossible for the organizers to go it alone. The Ministry of Defense came to the rescue.

The most impressive of the five stadiums where the matches are taking place is the Cairo Stadium, where renovations took five months to complete and cost a staggering $ 24 million. The stadium, which has a seating capacity of 74,800 spectators, was tested a week before the official start of the tournament, in the final friendly match between host country Egypt and South Africa.

Although the match results were disappointing for Egypt, with South Africa clinching a 2:1 victory, Egyptians are still hopeful that the Pharaohs, as the national team is called, will live up to their name and bring back some of the glory that their ancestors are famous for worldwide.

National team star Hossam Hassan is certain they will.

HOSSAM HASSAN, NATIONAL TEAM PLAYER: I was fortunate to participate in the last African Nations Cup 20 years ago, when we won the cup. This time, God willing, it will be ours again.

AMIN: For INSIDE AFRICA, Shahira Amin, CNN, Cairo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Now, we know about the stage of the games, but who is taking part? Well, Patrick Snell of CNN "WORLD SPORT" joins us now with details -- Patrick.

PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Isha. Thanks for (INAUDIBLE).

Well, the tournament is under way, as all football followers will know, and it was a fine start for the host Egypt, who won 3:0 in Cairo after Friday's glitzy opening ceremony. CNN's Terry Baddoo now looking ahead at the ones to watch, along with Emmanuel Maradas, who is editor of "Africa Soccer Magazine."

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TERRY BADDOO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A new order has emerged in African football. The traditional superpowers of South Africa, Nigeria, Cameroon and Senegal are no longer the standard bearers. They've been overtaken by the likes of Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Angola and Togo, who make their World Cup debuts in Germany this summer.

The Ivory Coast epitomizes the new way sweeping through African football. The squad has come a long way since being detained by its military rulers in 2000 for falling in the first round. And Maradas believes you need look no further than a certain Chelsea striker for the player of the tournament.

EMMANUEL MARADAS, EDITOR "AFRICA SOCCER MAGAZINE": Didier Drogba, no doubt. He will just kill the tournament. He is a very strong, he is a showman, he is a leader of a group, he is a captain. He will show to the rest of Africa that it's not by mistake that Cote d'Ivoire is now on top of the group. I see them playing the final. Winning it could be a problem, but playing the final, it is a possibility for Ivory Coast.

BADDOO: Tunisia were the other team to qualify for the World Cup finals, and the holders traveled to Egypt as hot favorites to retain their African Cup of Nations.

MARADAS: They're the team. They - they've got everything. They've got big sponsorship behind them, they've got a country behind them, the head of the state met them. While they're not far, they've got a very good team. The team spirit is there. The coach, Roger Lemerre, is very fastidious person who can really help them to go far. I - if I have the money, I probably - I will put on - on Tunisia to retain their title.

BADDOO: Having been put firmly in their place in the World Cup qualifiers, the old guard have plenty of points to prove at this year's Cup of Nations. Especially the fallen giants, South Africa.

MARADAS: They're not in disarray, but in deep trouble, because here is a country that will host the World Cup in 2010, and then there is no players emerging being charismatic.

BADDOO: While Africa hopes to put on a showpiece for the rest of the world, the biannual tournament continues to cause carnage in one of the busiest periods in the football season.

MARADAS: I think in my opinion, the way forward is every four years, change of format of the Africa Nations Cup. And then put it in summer, whatever it will cost.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Well, Patrick, let's pick up on that last point. How do organizers explain their decision to stage this tournament every two years, bearing in mind the conflict it causes with the domestic clubs, the players' employers?

SNELL: Yes, let's put it into some sort of prospective, Isha. Of all the main European leagues -- and of course, they're all affected in their own way -- the French ones are the worst ones hit, with over 70 players, 72 in total, from 32 clubs involved in the tournament. And it's bound to take its toll now.

I think it's fair to say it's an age-old issue conflict, really, between club and country. We've got to look at it I think in a balanced way. We've got to look at it from the players' view point as well. You know, many of them are uprooted from a different continent, or in some cases a different country. They're trying to establish themselves in already very competitive leagues. They're fighting for places amongst their teammates, many of whom are friends as well. So there is that point of view, that the competition for place is they want to progress their own club career.

But also as far as the Confederation of African Football is concerned, or CAF, you know, they insist that they biannual tournament is a necessity for the economy. They say having it every two years means that more countries will be given the chance to host the tournament, and therefore developing the infrastructure, which is very important, of course, for the grassroots level of the game and its development in Africa -- Isha.

SESAY: Well, Patrick, Egypt has been given a change to host the games, but controversy raging there as well about ticket sells, how well it's been publicized. Sales (ph) back in August, tickets were put on sale. Do you know how well they've sold?

SNELL: Well, it's still early days, of course it's just two days into the tournament, but the signs are not too encouraging. Some of these matches are a prime example. The host, Egypt -- Friday's game, sorry -- Egypt selling out 74,000 inside that impressive new look Cairo International Stadium, but it was not the same story earlier Saturday. The Ivory Coast, with the world star Didier Drogba, who plays football at Chelsea, shocking the world by making the first World Cup, and they have to be favorites here. And look at the action here against the team, on 36 minutes, Drogba on the end of the long ball, and he is taken down. So a penalty is awarded. And it is the very same Drogba, who is up to turn it away, and that was 1:0 Ivory Coast.

A couple of minutes later, Morocco has now turned to attack. Talal Karkouri takes the free kick, but it's deflected, saved by the keeper. And then 12:30 minutes or so from time, Morocco's Youssef Hadji again trying to get the level of it, barely, just over the bar, Ivory Coast holding on to win it, one goal to nil.

But just to point out, just 8,000 at that game. The Cameroon game with Angola did better; that was 20,000. But not too encouraging so far, as far as attendance is concerned, apart from the glitzy opening ceremony.

SESAY: Oh, dear. Patrick Snell of CNN "WORLD SPORT," many thanks for joining us with that.

Now, the African Union summit is already facing controversy before the opening session. And chaos in Ivory Coast turns calm. Details on these stories and much more when INSIDE AFRICA returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Political chaos turned ugly in the Ivory Coast this week, and African Union summit is already off to a roaring start. Let's take a look at the stories making news around Africa.

Some Ivory Coast leaders could soon find out they cannot travel freely, and that their assets have been frozen. The United Nations panel will consider those actions after days of violent chaos in Abidjan. The U.N. Security Council Sanctions Committee meets Monday to decide if some leaders orchestrated the anti-U.N. riots. Supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo attacked U.N. personnel, vehicles and facilities after international mediators called for the national parliament to be dissolved until elections.

Conflicting reports in Nigeria, where militants holding four foreign oil workers say they're refusing negotiations with government officials, but a government spokesman says talks are under way. The group, calling itself the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, is holding the hostages. It's demanding two of its ethnic leaders be released from prison. The militants also want $1.5 billion in compensation from oil companies for alleged environmental damage. Among the hostages is an American who identified himself as Patrick Landry. He's said to be very ill.

The African Union summit in Khartoum does not begin until Monday, but a controversy is already brewing. The group of African leaders are divided over Sudan's bid to head the Union. The Sudanese government is under international scrutiny for the conflict in Darfur. At issue is the African Union tradition of allowing the summit host country to take over the rotating leadership of the group.

The first elected female president of the African continent was inaugurated earlier this week. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf vowed to fight corruption and secure the trust of international donors. She's also said she'll ask Nigeria to hand over ex-warlord Charles Taylor to United Nations-backed war crimes tribunal. Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf did not give a timetable.

OK, let's take a closer look now at the stories making news in Africa. Joining us is Salim Booker, an expert on the continent, and executive director of the group Africa Action. Salim Booker, many thanks for joining us.

SALIM BOOKER, AFRICA ACTION: Thank you for having me.

SESAY: Let's start with the case of Ivory Coast. Four days of protests we saw this week. On the surface of it, we're told that the protesters were protesting against the presence of U.N. peacekeeping troops, but some analysts have said it's actually about a power struggle between the president and the newly chosen prime minister. What's your take on it?

BOOKER: Well, that's right. The international community, the mediators, the Security Council are trying to support the new interim prime minister, leading up to elections later this year, trying to implement the previous agreements and allow the U.N. to bring Ivory Coast to some kind of democratic solution.

Now, of course, President Gbagbo and his supporters saw the effort by the international mediators to dissolve the national assembly, whose mandate has expired, as an effort to weaken their base, and that seems to have been the source of the violence. And now the U.N. Security Council is going to be considering punitive measures to try and make clear their efforts, where they want their efforts to go this year.

SESAY: And do you feel that the international working group exceeded its mandate, overstepped the mark?

BOOKER: Well, no. I think they perhaps didn't fully anticipate what the reactions might be, but the national assembly's mandate has in fact expired, and I think the international working group sees the interim government as the primary vehicle to prepare the country for national elections later this year.

SESAY: Seeing those scenes of violence on the streets of Ivory Coast, the capital Abidjan, did it make you worry -- did it leave you with thoughts that it might be close to civil war?

BOOKER: Well, there's always the danger. The country is deeply polarized between the north and the south, and of course this entire process, mediated by the international community, and with South African leadership in particular, has been an effort to prevent the country from dissolving into a civil war, and thus I think the Security Council is giving it such priority attention.

SESAY: Well, Salim Booker, there's so much to talk about. Let's move on to Nigeria. What do we know about this group that is holding four foreign oil workers?

BOOKER: Well, we know very little, but we do know that there's been a broad unrest in the delta region, in the Ijaw community in particular in this case, and their local leadership has been arrested recently. This particular effort has two demands, in exchange for the hostages, four community leaders that the government is holding on a range of charges, and also the demand on the Shell Oil Company to pay some $1.5 billion in restitution for what regional leaders feel is the pollution, the environmental devastation that has been caused by the extraction of oil from the region.

The deeper issue here, of course, is the continuing failure of the Nigerian government to be able to use its oil wealth to resolve these economic and social demands, legitimate demands, in the delta region from which that very oil resource comes.

SESAY: OK, we'll have to leave that one there, but let's talk about the African Union summit in Khartoum, which starts on Monday, already threatening to be overshadowed by controversy. In your opinion, handing the leadership of the summit to Sudan, would that undermine the credibility of the African Union, bearing in mind the conflict in Darfur?

BOOKER: I think it certainly would undermine the credibility, and that's why the African Union didn't have the summit in Khartoum last year, as was originally planned, and went to Libya instead. And at that time, Colonel Gadhafi did not become the chair of the African Union. It's continued to be President Obasanjo. And so, there is no obligation for the host to immediately become the president of the AU for the next year.

Darfur is the top priority for the African Union. They have a mission in Darfur that is telling the world we (INAUDIBLE) mandate to do what's required to protect the people in the region, in large part from their own government, and the AU and the United Nations Security Council are soon to consider making that mission a larger, blue-helmeted United Nations mission, building on what the AU has done, but giving it a larger mandate to (INAUDIBLE). Don't think that the AU is in any mood, really, to succumb to the Khartoum government's pressures, but of course the government of Sudan, like the government of Egypt hosting the Africa Cup, hopes that by hosting the AU summit, it can project a new image. It's a measure of cosmetic surgery, if you will, but I don't think it will be sufficient.

SESAY: OK, Salim Booker, executive director of Africa Action. There, we must leave it, unfortunately, but many thanks for joining us.

BOOKER: Thank you.

SESAY: Well, the game of golf in Africa may soon be up to par with the rest of the world. Next, find out what one organization is doing to enhance the status of golf on the continent. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Now, one of the world's governing bodies in golf, the R&A, or Royal and Ancient, is working to improve the game in Africa. They recently announced they'll be spending more money in southern part of the continent. CNN's Alphonso Van Marsh reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At Johannesburg's only public golf course, 18-year-old Peledu (ph) gets a few tips from her instructor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I like (INAUDIBLE) golf ball and playing, like, nine holes, or five.

VAN MARSH: Senior tour pro Zach Dlamini says more than a decade after apartheid, South Africa's fairways have yet to see racial equality. He says it takes mentors and money to level the playing field.

ZACH DLAMINI, SOUTH AFRICA SR. GOLF TOUR PRO: Nobody taught me when I was young, because I was just -- they would say it was a white man's sport. Only if we can get people to help us, as basically sponsorship, so that we could be able to buy equipment for them.

VAN MARSH: Zach coaches underprivileged teens, breaking the stereotype in Africa that it's often whites playing golf and blacks serving as caddies. And now, the sport's world governing body, the R&A, says it's giving some $80,000 to develop sub-Saharan Africa's golfers. The R&A is giving about $17,000 for Malawi's Gulf Union, to support this year's all-African junior championship. There's some $50,000 for Swaziland's Golf Union to host an amateur men's competition. The R&A will also help the union buy a car for its junior development program. A share of some $265,000 R&A dollars will also buy kids' golf clubs and used greens keeping machines in the region.

(on camera): While many golfers applaud the R&A's commitment to southern Africa, there are some who think that the money could be better spent developing this country's golfing programs, making them the torch bearer for the continent.

MARTIN PINTO, SOUTH AFRICA DEVELOPMENT BOARD: I've traveled those countries. The conditions, as compared to southern Africa and to South Africa, are chalk and cheese.

VAN MARSH (voice-over): The R&A defends its grant giving. The group's director of development says it's just trying to do what's best for golf around the world.

South Africa isn't slated for an R&A grant this year, but the group says it's working with the South Africa Golf Association to host the World Amateur Team Championships in October.

Alphonso Van Marsh, CNN, Johannesburg.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: That's our show. I'm Isha Sesay. The INSIDE AFRICA team wants to hear from you. If you have a comment about the program, e-mail us at insideAfrica@cnn.com. Please include which country you're writing from, and your response might be used on a future broadcast.

"WORLD NEWS" is next with the look at the latest twists in the journey of a whale who took a wrong turn.

END

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