(ATR) With no general assembly scheduled for 2016, the African National Olympic Committees will meet on the sidelines of the 2016 ANOC General Assembly to vote on changes to the constitution.
A spokesperson from ANOCA confirmed to Around the Rings the NOC leaders will meet Doha, Qatar, as there is no scheduled meeting for all African NOCs until the 2017 General Assembly in Djibouti.
ANOCA passed a resolution at the 2015 General Assembly in Mauritius calling for an extraordinary session in 2016, but dates and locations were not finalized.
Amending the ANOCA constitution has been a multi-year process that was supposed to be done at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, but not enough African NOC leaders were present to have a quorum for the meeting.
Before the extraordinary session, the ANOCA legal commission will first meet to adapt the body’s constitution to get it in line with the recent IOC reforms from Agenda 2020. The commission will then present their work to the ANOCA Executive Board, who will discuss the amendments and vote on them before presenting any changes to the extraordinary session.
In addition to updating the constitution, ANOCA pledged at the 2015 General Assembly to hire new full time administrative staff and to look for alternative sources for the body outside of funding received from the IOC .
The spokesperson from ANOCA told ATR that a letter has been sent to the African Union in the hopes of reengaging the body to help untangle the power structure for the African Games going forward. The letter was sent with the intents of "reviving negotiations," which have stalled leaving the AU, ANOCA, and Union of African Sports Confederations all in charge of the Games.
As the next edition of the Games is scheduled for 2019, no talks on a host have even been considered as the three bodies remain at a stalemate for who is in charge.
Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro
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