CAIRO – Africa Cup of Nations organisers said on Tuesday that the death of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi would have no impact on the security situation in Egypt, and the tournament would go ahead.
A source within the African Confederation of Football (Caf), speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was “no reason” that the tournament would be cancelled or postponed as a result of Morsi’s sudden death on Monday.
Egypt play Zimbabwe in the opening match in Cairo on Friday.
Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president who was overthrown after a turbulent year in power, collapsed and “died as he attended a hearing” over alleged collaboration with foreign powers and militant groups, the prosecutor general’s office said.
He was buried on Tuesday in Cairo.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing – the Freedom and Justice Party – accused Egyptian authorities of “deliberately killing him slowly” by holding him in solitary confinement.
The United Nations and rights groups have demanded an independent probe into the conditions of Morsi’s detention and the circumstances of his death.