Somalia Olympic match moved to Djibouti after Kenya spat

Football Kenya Federation has declined to host the Caf U-23 qualifier between Somalia and Rwanda due to insecurity in the region and a scheduling conflict with their national under-23 team.

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

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The 2016 Olympic qualifying match between Somalia and Rwanda has been moved from Nairobi to Djibouti after Kenya declined to host the game, Somali football officials said.

Somalia, who lost the first leg 2-0 in Kigali two weeks ago had approached Kenya to stage the return match at the Kasarani stadium on May 9, but Football Kenya Federation (FKF) declined the request claiming the Somali Football Federation (SFF) had failed to seek clearance from the Kenyan government.

"Arising from the security situation in our region, it is mandatory that we must get clearance from the Government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," FKF scretary Michael Esakwa had said in a letter to the SFF made available to the media.

But in a reply the SFF media officer, Shafi Mohyaddin Abokar accused the FKF of being uncooperative, saying Kenya had already issued their players with entry visas into the country for the match and termed the FKF decision as "an unwanted move which is not good for fair play".

"It came as a surprise to us, when the Football Kenya Federation said in a letter on Monday that it was not able to organise the Somalia-Rwanda match in Nairobi, and yet the government of Kenya had already granted entry visas to Somalia," Abokar said in a statement.

"Football Kenya Federation has taken an unwanted move which is not good for the fair play and as well as damages the relationship between the two associations."

Abokar said the fixture had subsequently been switched to the neighbouring Djibouti, who had automatically accepted Somalia's request to stage the match.

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