courtesy aboutmanchester.co.uk, africanjornalists.org
The Federation of African Journalists ( FAJ) has condemned what it calls attempts by UAE to manipulate African journalists into speaking out against the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The FAJ expressed dismay over the efforts by UAE to manipulate the journalist’s organisations in Africa to issue public statements or campaign against the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Qatar will be the first Gulf country to host the tournament.
The resolution adopted at the African journalist’s leaders conference held this week in the Ghanaian capital Accra also called on football’s world governing body FIFA and the regional body, Confederation of African football to investigate and sanction those responsible for this act. FAJ President Sadiq Ibrahim Ahmed said that around eight African journalist associations have been contacted by people that are believed to be associated with high officials from UAE. They have been pressuring them to speak out and hold new conferences against Qatar hosting the World Cup and encourage the African teams in participating in the tournament next year.
There have been a lot of controversies over Qatar hosting the tournament, regarding the working conditions in the country, the wage abuse and lack of rights to the migrant workers and how Qatar got the hosting rights have also been a controversial topic. UAE and Qatar have a dispute and have severed economic and diplomatic ties since 2017.