Until now, the African Boxing Confederation (AFBC) has remained staunchly behind Kremlev, despite the IBA being stripped of its status as the International Federation overseeing Olympic boxing.

It is the only continent where none of the members have switched allegiance to rival breakaway organisation, World Boxing.

But now, 30 out of the AFBC’s 50 Member Federations have rebelled following the publication of the list of candidates for the election to choose a new President in Durban on October 13.

The group of countries have cited the controversial clearance of three candidates, and the exclusion of another, who they claim should be allowed to stand after having European Union (EU) sanctions against him lifted.

The list of approved nominations includes Cameroon’s Bertrand Mendouga, forced out in August by Kremlev, which has triggered this election.

The AFBC claim that Mendouga had to leave "due to the accusations of mismanagement and embezzlement of athletes prize money."

They have also questioned the nominations of Uganda Boxing Federation President Moses Muhangi, who earlier this year was arrested in his home country and has been sanctioned by the AFBC Ethics Committee and fined CHF5,000 (£4,500/$5,500/€5,200).

Mohamed El Kabbouri should also be declared ineligible; they claim as he does not have the support of his National Federation.

He was born in Morocco but spent 12 years living in Ukraine until he left when the war started.

It is while living in Ukraine that it is believed he has come into the orbit of Kremlev, who is widely believed to be backing his campaign.

It is alleged that El Kabbouri has close links to Serbia’s Abdulmutalim Abakarov, appointed IBA vice-president by Kremlev.

There is also anger among the group of African countries that Ferdinand Luyoyo, President of the Congo Boxing Federation, has not been allowed to stand in the election.

Luyoyo was formerly the Democratic Republic of Congo’s police chief and responsible for the protection of institutions and high-ranking officials in the country, including then President Joseph Kabila, accused of human rights abuses.

As a result, sanctions were imposed by the EU and United Kingdom against Luyoyo.

The EU lifted the sanctions in May 2022, but he remains on the list in the UK.

The group of African countries claim that the decision to exclude Luyoyo was "a decision only based on the rumours" and that the BIIU Monitoring Unit have never contacted him to check the situation.

The BIIU was set up in September 2022 by IBA, they claimed, as an independent organisation and is currently headed by Swiss lawyer Bernhard Heinrich Welten.

He oversees a Managing Board which also includes a group of other lawyers, Australia’s James Kitching, Bahrain’s Nader Jalal Al-Awadhi and American Richard R Young, best known for drafting the original World Anti-Doping Code.

The BIIU Nomination Unit, meanwhile, is led by Emin Özkurt, a Turkish lawyer.  

"The BIIU Nomination Unit lacked professionalism, accepting to act under influences from outside their Unit, and put their transparency and integrity in jeopardy; and we cannot trust them,” the group of African countries claim in a statement.

They want the election postponed by a month and for the AFBC to be given responsibility to drawing up a list of approved candidates.

"We request the AFBC Leadership to take their responsibility and entrust the AFBC Ethics Committee to conduct the vetting process under the AFBC Constitution and Regulations already in place," they say in the statement.

The other two candidates approved by the BIIU are Nigeria's Azania Omo-Agege Siena, who has been Acting President since Mendouga stepped down, and Berhanu Eyassu Wossen, head of the Ethiopian Boxing Federation.

The 30 countries to have signed the statement are Algeria, Angola, Benin, Guinea-Bissau, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, DR Congo, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Conakry, Kenya, Lesotho, Libya, Malawi, Mali, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Togo.