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By Aziz El Yaakoubi
RABAT, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Morocco has refused to host January's African Nations Cup finals amid fears over the spread of the Ebola virus, throwing the 2015 tournament into jeopardy on Saturday.
The country, who want the 16-team event postponed, rejected an ultimatum set by the Confederation of African Football to confirm their hosting of the continental soccer championship, due to take place Jan. 17-Feb. 8.
A statement from Morocco's sports ministry said: 'The decision is dictated by health reasons because of the serious threat of Ebola and the risk of its spreading.'
A decision on the tournament will now be made next week when CAF have an executive committee meeting in Cairo but Morocco will almost certainly be stripped as hosts.
CAF said earlier on Saturday it would make no statement until after Wednesday's meeting.
Morocco is concerned that supporters from west Africa converging on the country for the tournament could bring with them the deadly virus and put at risk their important tourist industry.
They asked CAF to postpone the event to June, or even January 2016, but this was rejected last week by African soccer's governing body, who set Morocco a deadline of Saturday to confirm they would host the three-week tournament.
CAF can now either move the event to another country -- although they have had no public expression of interest from nations they approached to be on standby as possible emergency hosts -- or cancel it at great financial cost.
CAF accused Morocco of being alarmist in its fears over the spread of the virus, which has caused almost 5,000 deaths in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, and set out a lengthy list of reasons why it felt they could still host the tournament without any risk.
But Morocco stood firm and could face sanctions including the possibility of a lengthy ban from future Nations Cup tournaments.
They did offer in Saturday's statement to host the 2017 finals.
The tournament is African football's showpiece but has a turbulent history, with several prospective hosts like Kenya, Libya, Zambia and Zimbabwe pulling out or being stripped of hosting rights in the past after being awarded the tournament.
Libya gave up the hosting of the 2017 finals in August and CAF must find a replacement.
The 2019 finals are set for Cameroon, 2021 in the Ivory Coast and 2023 in Guinea. (Writing by Mark Gleeson in Johannesburg; Editing by Mark Meadows)