EBOLA FORCES GUINEA VS SIERRA LEONE NATIONS CUP QUALIFIER TO BE MOVED

CONAKRY , Guinea - Guinea said

Tuesday that it had been told by

Africa ' s top football body to move an

important qualifier against Togo

next month to another country

because of the Ebola outbreak .

Guinea ' s neighbour Sierra Leone ,

which is also affected by the deadly

virus, has asked to play its ' home '

games in Ghana in the final round of

qualifying for the 2015 African Cup .

The Sierra Leone government has

suspended all football because of

Ebola .

The request is being considered by

Ghanaian authorities .

Nearly 700 people have died in the

Ebola outbreak in Guinea and Sierra

Leone alone .

The Guinea Football Federation had

initially insisted it was safe for

football but said it had now been

instructed by the Confederation of

African Football to relocate the Sept.

5 qualifier against Togo . The Togo

team had refused to play in Guinea .

Guinea is believed to have been the

source of the outbreak that has swept

through three West African

countries , killing over 1 ,000 people

in total. Guinea, Sierra Leone and

Liberia have each had over 300

deaths , with Guinea the highest at

373 , according to the World Health

Organization ' s latest count .

A fourth country , Nigeria, has also

reported Ebola cases.

Guinea Football Federation president

Sherif Diallo said CAF had sent a

letter instructing them to move the

Togo game . CAF had not yet

announced the decision .

" In this letter , CAF also noted that all

members of the Guinean delegation

who need to travel with the team will

be tested to ensure they are not

infected with the Ebola virus," Diallo

said .

Guinea has not decided where it will

move the game to , Diallo said , but

was looking for a country with " a

large number of Guinean nationals. "

Earlier Tuesday , CAF said in a

statement to The Associated Press

that Sierra Leone had asked for

permission to play the three games it

was meant to host in the Ghana

capital of Accra instead. Those will

be against Ivory coast , Cameroon

and Congo.

The Ghana Football Association said

it was considering the request and

would make a decision after a report

by Ghana ' s health ministry.

" While the GFA is keen on helping

out our brothers from Sierra Leone ,

we are uncertain about the health

implications for our country ," the

Ghana Football Association said .