RWC: Senegal's Harare concerns
Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:59
The Senegalese rugby federation (FSR) expressed security concerns over their 2011 World Cup qualifier against Zimbabwe in Harare in July.
The game is due to be held a little over three years after a similar encounter - which Senegal lost 15-21 - ended in violence on June 25, 2005.
FSR president Guedel Ndiaye and Jean-Luc Barthes, in charge of the International Rugby Board (IRB) African development programme, said everything possible would be done to ensure the game passed off without incident.
But Ndiaye said: 'Our concerns are principally coming from the political situation there at the moment.
"We don't really know what's going to happen, with what's going on there civil war could erupt from one day to the next," he added.
Zimbabwe has been waiting over four weeks for official results from the presidential election opposing President Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai.
Barthes commented: "For us, the IRB, the top priority is security. If security isn't assured the match won't be played in Zimbabwe."
Before Zimbabwe Senegal, drawn in Group A at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand, have a qualifier with Namibia in Dakar on June 14.
AFP
