Six Cecafa member states have been ejected from the qualifiers of the newly introduced Africa Nations Championships whose finals will be hosted in Ivory Coast next year.

The countries which include Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Zanzibar, Eritrea, and Djibouti will not participate in the new continental tournament which is eligible for local-based players.

The new tournament which is a continental showcase like the African Nations Cup drew the remaining countries like Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Sudan to play the preliminaries of the new tournament from the Eastern zone.

When asked the former Ferwafa boss and current Caf executive committee member, Celestin Musabyimana told Times Sport that Cecafa member states as well as other countries which were never considered for this tournament did not fill forms giving the eligibility to take part in the tournament.

"Caf gave out forms to its member states and those who responded positively by filling the forms were drawn to take part in the tournament,"

"Caf was not forcing any country to participate in this tournament and that is why several countries will miss out on this tournament, "Musabyimana said.

In this tournament, eight teams including the hosts will play in the inaugural tournament next year. Caf has divided the qualifiers into zones - North zone with teams from North Africa, West A and B Zone with teams from the west of the continent, Central Zone, Southern Zone and Central East, where Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Djibouti were expected to play.

Caf’s decision came just a fortnight after Tusker FC was dismissed from the Africa Champions League, after the Kenya Football Federation’s failure to pay a KShs450, 000 debt.

The exclusion of Kenya from the Nations Championships has already created fears that Kenya could also be locked out of the qualifiers for the 2010 Africa Nations Cup.

In the Africa Nations Championships fixtures, Libya play Tunisia in the preliminary round of the North Zone with the winner meeting Egypt in the first round; Algeria will clash with Morocco.

In the West A zone, Senegal take on Mali, while Mauritania face Guinea. In the West B zone, Nigeria will take on Burkina Faso and Niger will play Benin.

In the Central zone, Central Africa clash with Gabon and Congo meet Chad, with the winners taking on Cameroon and Democratic Republic of Congo respectively in the first round. Mauritius and South Africa face off in the preliminary of the Southern zone, with the winner playing Botswana in the first round, which will also see Namibia clashing with Angola.

In the Central East zone, which brings together teams from the Council of East and Central Africa (Cecafa) region, Rwanda play Burundi in the preliminaries in a match whose winner will take on Sudan in the first round. Tanzania will face Uganda in the first round.

Dates of the qualifiers will be announced later. The tournament is scheduled for January 18 – February1 next year.

Ends