Djibouti football leadership vote disputed after police occupy federation headquarters

Police occupied the Djibouti football federation's headquarters on Monday as opponents of president Souleiman Waberi moved to remove him and his executive committee, the Guardian reported. A group of club presidents held an extraordinary meeting at the premises, but the federation disputed its legitimacy and rejected the decisions taken there.

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According to the federation, known as the FDF, police first entered its national technical centre on Sunday at about 5.30pm without producing a court order or administrative document. It said a larger police deployment returned on Monday and instructed Waberi, executive committee members, employees and other federation members to leave the building.

The FDF said 16 club presidents subsequently entered under police escort. It argued that the assembly had not been convened correctly and that required notice periods and electoral procedures had been disregarded. Sources in Djibouti gave the Guardian a competing account, saying the necessary number of delegates attended and unanimously voted to dismiss the leadership before appointing an interim committee.

The confrontation followed a dispute that began publicly in early September, when 27 clubs announced plans to seek the executive committee's removal. The coalition claimed it had the required two-thirds support. The federation countered that its membership total was 67, meaning 45 members were needed to trigger an extraordinary assembly. More clubs and delegates subsequently joined the opposition campaign, the newspaper reported.

The government also intervened. Secretary of state for sport Fatouma Ali Abdallah instructed the federation to hold an extraordinary assembly within 72 hours, according to the Guardian. Waberi's positions extend beyond Djibouti: he is a member of both FIFA's council and the executive committee of the Confederation of African Football, known as CAF.

The FDF has appealed to FIFA and CAF, arguing that deploying state security forces to remove elected football officials could amount to outside interference. It warned of possible suspension, exclusion of clubs and national teams from international competition, and disruption to development funding. Those were potential consequences raised by the federation, not sanctions announced in the report. The Guardian said it had sought comment from FIFA.