Blatter urges Meles to support normalcy in EFF

Joseph S. Blatter, president of FIFA, in his letter last week call upon Prime Minister Meles to help the process of normalization in the Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) and FIFA's measures to correct the paths chosen by some individuals who did not respect FIFA's decisions.

Blatter said that situations in the EFF worsened at the end of 2007 and at the beginning of 2008 with internal disputes, controversial and disputed general assemblies.

"Upon my personal invitation, FIFA and CAF decided a "roadmap" to bring back normally within the EFF with seven-point elements," he said, adding that unfortunately this roadmap could not be so far implemented due to several factors.

Some of the reasons mentioned by Blatter were reluctance of some members to accept this FIFA-CAF decision in spite of their statutory obligations describe in the Article 13.1 (d) of the FIFA Statues, access to the EFF headquarters till refused the legitimate EFF leadership, among other things.

"This situation has been lingering for months and FIFA and CAF are determined to act to bring back normalcy in the Ethiopian football community, to implement the roadmap and, if necessary take the appropriate sanctions for non-compliance with a FIFA-CAF join decision" he said.

Blatter, who said Ethiopia has a "special position" in his heart called upon Meles' leadership and wisdom to use all the authority bestowed upon his government to support the football infrastructures programme for which FIFA earmarked considerable development funds.

"I am looking forward to a favorable and fast solution to this situation for the good of Ethiopia, Ethiopian football and the youth of country," he added.