SHEFFIELD (Julio Chitunda's African Message) - The more I avoided raising the topic of the Ebola virus outbreak into the basketball conversation, the more I realised how inevitable this subject was becoming because of its impact on the African continent.

As I write this column, the impact of Ebola outbreak on African basketball is inexpressive, but everybody should be ready.

West Africa - home to some of African basketball's powerhouses such as Mali, Nigeria (declared Ebola-free, despite an historic of the disease in the country), Senegal and Cote d'Ivoire - has been highly affected by the outbreak, although Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone have been the most affected countries.

Neither Liberia nor Sierra are expected to take part in FIBA Africa's Zone 2 qualifiers for the 2015 editions of the African Championships due to their own administrative reasons, nevertheless Guinea is expected to face Cape Verde, although the two-leg competition dates and places are yet to be determined.

Unlike the Africa Football Governing Body (CAF), FIBA Africa, who runs basketball on the continent, has not banned any of the affected countries, but if Cape Verde follows the example of the Seychelles - who forfeited their football Nations Cup qualifier rather than accommodate Sierra Leone - then we will have an unprecedented case.

Last week, Morocco announced its intentions of withdrawing from hosting the upcoming Football Africa Cup of Nations - scheduled for January 2015 - because of fears over the outbreak of Ebola.

The Moroccan authorities have reportedly presented alternative options to CAF, such as postponing the tournament for a year or considering switching it to the 2017.

The Moroccans rightly allege the need to preserve the safety of their citizens. Ghana as well as South Africa have been tipped to replace Morocco if they decide to pull out.

I take football as an example as it is the leading sport in Africa, followed by basketball, volleyball and handball.

As a result of the existence of the Ebola virus in parts of West Africa, basketball fans in Senegal a couple of months ago missed out on the chance of seeing the USA run a one-day basketball clinic in the capital city Dakar before they travelled for Spain for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

The world champions were forced to cancel the highly-anticipated trip to Dakar because of the escalating virus.

Even though the Ebola outbreak shows no signs of slowing down - and despite the World Health Organisation (WHO) indicating that, by December, up to 10,000 people a week could get infected by the virus - Tunisia and Cameroon would only pull out of hosting of next year's AfroBasket Men and AfroBasket Women respectively as a last resort.

Tunisia, in the North of Africa, has not reported any case of the disease, leaving the hosts of AfroBasket 2015 in a privileged position.

Tunisia coach Adel Tlatli, the longest serving national team head coach in Africa, told me how his country is dealing with the outbreak of the virus: "We have to respect Morocco's decision because this is a world problem.

"We are hoping to meet the Ministers of Sport as well as Health in the coming days or weeks to discuss what precautions to take in order to avoid this problem spreading into Tunisia.

"There are many people from other parts of Africa that are in Tunisia, and not a single case of the disease has been reported so far."

On the other hand, Cameroon, given its proximity to the West Africa, will need to become extra vigilant in order to keep the organisation of AfroBasket Women 2015.

Samuel Nduku, the President of the Cameroon Basketball Federation, shared his thoughts about hosting the championship in such peculiar circumstances.

"[Cameroon's] Authorities are taking measures to avoid the breakout spreading into the country. Every person coming into Cameroon will be subjected to screening at the airport just like other nations are doing.

"For the moment we are working and looking forward to host the tournament here in the Cameroon.

"Fingers crossed, by next summer the Ebola virus outbreak will be extinguished."

A senior FIBA Africa official told me: "As we speak, we have not received any notification from either (Tunisia or Cameroon) complaining about the virus outbreak. We are open to discuss any possible concerns. The tournaments will not happen until September next year. Hopefully there won't be major changes."

Julio Chitunda

FIBA

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