Kenya beefs up security ahead of Africa's athletics championship

Security has been beefed up in Nairobi as the city prepares to welcome over 1,500 athletes and officials who will be arriving to take part in the Africa Athletics Championship that starts on Wednesday.

Local Organising Committee (LOC) chairman Isaiah Kiplagat reiterated that the recent bomb attacks in Kampala, Uganda which targeted innocent fans watching the finals of the football World Cup has forced them to raise the security level status.

"What happened to Uganda is a lesson to us. We have summoned our security team to discuss the details on how to avoid such incidents since our events can easily be a target for mercenaries. We are a bit worried," Kiplagat told Xinhua on Friday.

A top security meeting is set up for Saturday where government officials will lay down their plans as they move in to assure the fans and foreign athletes of their security while in the east African country which has been hit twice by terrorists.

Teams from neighboring Uganda, Burundi and Ethiopia, the nations with peacekeepers in Somalia, are said to be targeted by Somali militant group that claimed responsibility for the twin blasts in Kampala.

LOC has appointed Assistant Commissioner of Police Alfred Ombaba to head the security team and have already moved in to secure the eight teams in the country covering their training and stay in hotels.

Already Mali, Nigeria, Algeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Benin, Senegal, Namibia, Botswana are in the country.

"We are taking no chances. We want a clean championship and we will not compromise on the security of the athletes and dignitaries that we have invited or accompanying their respective teams," Okeyo, the LOC Chief Executive, said.

Lamine Diack, the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) president, will be among the dignitaries expected for the championship, which starts on Wednesday.

World and Olympic champion Usain Bolt and Britain's Sabastian Coe have also been invited but they are yet to confirm.

However Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco has confirmed he will be in Nairobi. IAAF vice chairman Sergey Burka of Ukraine is also expected.

"We have sent out invitations to some of the best athletes to come and witness Africa battle out here in Nairobi. We will expect more to follow, but for now the three have been officially invited, " said David Okeyo, LOC Chief executive.

Coe, Bolt and El Guerrouj stand out as pillars in athletics over their achievements on the track.

It was only recent that Coe's Oslo meeting record of 1:42.33, set 31 years ago in the four lap race, and was broke by the African record holder David Rudisha 1:42.01.

Already, the host venue, Nyayo National Stadium is under tight guard with the event's secretariat set to be sealed off to none- accredited persons beginning on Monday.

Source:Xinhua