The 12th African Games (Arabic: الألعاب الإفريقية الثانية عشرة), also known as Rabat 2019 (Arabic: الرباط 2019), were held from 19 to 31 August 2019 in Rabat, Morocco. This was the first time that the African Games were hosted by Morocco following the country's readmission to the African Union in January 2017.
Later five Egyptian athletes (Abderrahmane Al Sayed, Ibrahim Moustafa, Samar Hossein, Sara Ahmed Samir, Farag Salma) were disqualified due to anti-doping violations.[1]
Bidding process
The 12th African Games was scheduled in September 2019. Accra, Nairobi and Lusaka announced that they would bid for these Games, but none of them were selected.[2]
Malabo, Equatorial Guinea was initially chosen to organise the 2019 African Games at the Second Ordinary Session of the Specialist Technical Committee on Youth, Culture and Sports, which was held at the headquarters of the African Union, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 13 to 17 June 2016.[3]
However, Equatorial Guinea was unable to host the Games due to economic problems.[4]Lusaka, the capital of Zambia was later speculated to host the Games but refused, citing lack of facilities.[5][6] In July 2018, Rabat, Morocco was selected to replace Malabo, Equatorial Guinea as host of the 2019 edition.[7]
Later five Egyptian athletes (Abderrahmane Al Sayed, Ibrahim Moustafa, Samar Hossein, Sara Ahmed Samir, Farag Salma) were disqualified due to anti-doping violations.[14]