Kadugli pitch readied for CECAFA Cup

AN African football official said Sunday he was unaware that deadly shelling had struck near a ground in Sudan's war-torn South Kordofan being readied for a regional tournament.

The Council for East and Central Africa Football Association (CECAFA) Kagame Club Cup is to take place from Tuesday in Kadugli, South Kordofan's capital, with Sudanese authorities pledging tight security.

The town is co-hosting the two-week competition with El Fasher, in Sudan's impoverished and conflict-plagued Darfur region.

Sudanese rebels on Saturday said they had shelled Kadugli the previous day as they were "advancing" from the west of the town.

"I've not heard of that," CECAFA media officer Rogers Mulindwa told AFP, when asked about the incident. "We have not received that information at CECAFA."

Mulindwa, who arrived in Sudan on Friday, said the Sudanese government had written letters "assuring us of (the) security of this tournament."

The states of South Kordofan and North Darfur are sponsoring the event along with Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Mulindwa said.

CECAFA says the matches will go ahead.

Insurgents from the Sudan People's Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N) said they were targeting a Sudanese military facility in their deadly barrage.

But some shells landed inside a United Nations peacekeeping base, killing one soldier and wounding two others. Local residents said the base is near the CECAFA stadium.

"We have flown the technical people to do the marking of the ground" in Kadugli, Mulindwa said. "They went today."

CECAFA general secretary Nicholas Musonye was also in Kadugli on Sunday.

"And the teams are travelling on Monday," Mulindwa said, adding that CECAFA considers football to be "a unifying factor" among people.

A Sudan Football Association official, Yasser Hassan, was also unaware of the weekend shelling ahead of the first-ever international football competition to be held in Kadugli and El Fasher.

Hassan said authorities have put in a "400 percent" effort to ensure security.

Kenyan champions Tusker were scheduled to play in the opening match in South Kordofan but announced they were pulling out over safety concerns.

Three Tanzanian clubs also withdrew.

Kadugli is now to host three teams: Uganda Revenue Authority, Sudan's Al-Ahly Shandy, and Al-Hilal Kadugli.

The eight clubs playing in El Fasher are: Merreikh El Fasher, APR and Rayon Sport of Rwanda, Express FC of Uganda, Ports from Djibouti, Vitalo of Burundi and Electric Sport of Chad.

The rebels, fighting since 2011 in South Kordofan, have periodically shelled Kadugli since late last year, causing some fatalities.

The UN has said more than 200,000 people have fled the war zone in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states for South Sudan and Ethiopia as refugees.

An estimated one million more have been affected inside South Kordofan and Blue Nile, where the SPLA-N is also fighting.

In Sudan's Darfur, a decade-long insurgency has been complicated by inter-Arab fighting, kidnappings, carjackings and other crimes, many suspected to be the work of government-linked militia.

The UN's humanitarian aid chief Valerie Amos said during a visit to Sudan in late May that an estimated 300,000 people have fled fighting in Darfur this year.

El Fasher, where CECAFA will also play, is the headquarters of the African Union-UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID). The town itself has not been subjected to rebel attacks.

AFP