NAIROBI, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Political tension and uncertainty over the General Election in Togo has forced Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) Council to push back this year's Africa Cross Country Championships by a month.
CAA council made the announcement on Tuesday saying the host will not be ready for the championships, which was due on Feb. 28 to March 1 in Lome.
CAA President Melboune Kalkaba in a statement said the new dates for the championships will be in April.
"The CAA council meeting as well as the Africa Cross Country Championships, initially scheduled for February 28 and March 1, in Lome, have been postponed to the beginning of April 2020. This was at the request of the Togolese Government, which has just fix the date of its presidential elections on February 22, 2020," said Kalkaba on Tuesday.
CAA said it would be prudent to watch out for the electioneering period, which runs until the end of March.
"It was strongly recommended by the local authorities to postpone our events to April to ensure all the conditions of participation and organization are in place," CAA said.
CAA preparatory and validation mission is scheduled to visit Togo during the second half of January 2020, during which it will discuss with the Local Organizing Committee a new date.
