Algeria vs Egypt, Sudan on high alert

KHARTOUM (AFP) – Sudanese police were on high alert on Monday as Algerian and Egyptian fans began arriving for this week’s crunch World Cup qualification play-off amid mounting fears of trouble.

Despite a demand from Egypt for additional protection for its nationals and interests in Algeria, Egypt Air’s Algiers offices were again ransacked by fans still angry over stonethrowing in Cairo last week that left three Algerian players injured.

“We have put all our security forces on their highest level of alert,” Khartoum state governor Abderrahman al-Khidr told reporters in the Sudanese capital, adding that a total of 15,000 police would be on duty for Wednesday’s game and ready to respond to any incident.

capacity stadium in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman to allow for segregation of the rival fans.

Algeria and Egypt each have an allocation of 9,000 tickets for their travelling fans.

“We are expecting 48 planes from Algeria and 18 from Egypt,” Khidr said, adding that 2,000 fans were also travelling by road from neighbouring Egypt for the game.

The Khartoum governor said travelling fans needed to be aware of a shortage of hotel capacity in the Sudanese capital.

“For those who arrive on match day, the two sets of fans will be assigned separate areas to sleep in,” where giant screens will also be set up to allow those without tickets to see the game.

A rash of violence since the 2-0 Egyptian victory, which forced Wednesday’s neutral-venue play-off, has ratcheted up security fears around the game.

The Egyptian foreign ministry summoned the Algerian ambassador to seek increased security for its nationals after a spate of attacks against Egyptian targets.

Cairo wants “assurances that the Algerian authorities are doing everything necessary to ensure the safety of Egyptian nationals in Algeria,” deputy foreign minister for Arab affairs Abdel Rahman Salah told reporters.

He stressed “the importance of halting the escalation” in the build-up to Wednesday’s game.

But around 100 people left Algeria on Sunday because of violence aimed against Egyptians, many of them staff for Egyptian companies like an Orascom subsidiary that had 15 offices ransacked on Sunday.

Ayman Sayyed, an engineer who returned with his wife and daughter, said on arrival at Cairo airport that on Sunday “400 Algerians besieged the building where we live with other Egyptians, but we managed to get out.”

Mohannad Ibrahim, an accountant, said for his part that “our house was surrounded by Algerians carrying knives, but we were able to escape via the roof.”

According to witnesses, Egyptian expatriates have been grouped in areas secured by the Algerian police after incidents including an initial attack on the Algiers offices of Egypt Air on Sunday.

Algeria’s ambassador in Cairo, Abdelkader Hadjar, told reporters authorities in his country were “making every effort and will do more to protect Egyptian nationals and interests.”

Algiers had sought similar assurances from Cairo after its players were injured when stones were thrown at their bus as they being driven from the airport to the team hotel last week.

Despite that appeal, 20 Algerians were among 32 people injured in clashes after Saturday’s game.

Egypt’s victory in that match left the two teams tied on 13 points with the same goal difference forcing Wednesday’s play-off for a place in the 2010 finals in South Africa.

The North African rivals have a history of bad blood, with riots breaking out after Egypt defeated Algeria in a 1989 match in Cairo.

Algeria player Lakhdar Belloumi was tried in absentia and sentenced to prison in Egypt for allegedly seriously injuring the Egyptian team doctor with a bottle after that game.

Egypt last qualified for the World Cup in 1990, and Algeria in 1986.