Mombasa negotiates cross country hurdles

By Isa Omok

MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - Security alerts, bad roads and a struggle to raise funds have preoccupied the city of Mombasa as it prepares to host the world cross country championships next month.

Critics accused the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) of making a sentimental gesture when it awarded the championships to Kenya, a country blessed with phenomenal distance-running talent which had dominated the event for two decades.

Mombasa, Kenya's second largest city, has battled to overcome a succession of hurdles since being selected to host the March 24 championships.

The city on the Indian Ocean was the only candidate still in the running by the time the IAAF announced the venue in November 2005, after rival bidders Florida (U.S.) and Madrid (Spain) had pulled out.

Finance was the first challenge. Kenya, where the average man lives on less than a dollar a day, had hoped to marshal the corporate world to bankroll the event.

The government provided 150 million Kenyan shillings ($2.1 million), half the amount required.

The rest was expected to come from corporate sponsors but only a local beer manufacturer, a mobile telephone service provider and the national airline came forward to provide 15 million shillings each in cash or kind, leaving a budget deficit.

The local organizing committee was unable to find a title sponsor, who would have been expected to put up $1 million.

MUSLIMS MARCH

Security also became an issue when the United States put out a travel alert to its citizens intending to visit Kenya earlier this month, saying there was mounting insecurity in the nation's towns.

Two Americans, a mother and daughter, were among tens of people gunned down in a spate of recent gangland-style murders in the capital, Nairobi.

Kenyan Muslims have threatened to disrupt the championships unless the government frees 23 Muslims they say are being held unfairly at police stations across the country.

Hundreds of Muslims marched in Mombasa last weekend, bringing businesses and traffic to a halt, and community leaders said they would stage another demonstration during the championships unless their demands were met.

Mombasa has had problems in the past, Four years ago, suicide bombers killed three Israelis and 12 Kenyans in an attack on an Israeli-owned hotel.

At the same time, a missile aimed at an Israeli airliner leaving Mombasa airport, missed its target.