[ La police a dispersé avec des grenades lacrymogènes jeudi à Kinshasa une manifestation du parti du chef de file de l’opposition en République démocratique du Congo (RDC) et candidat à la présidentielle du 28 novembre, Etienne Tshisekedi, …]
BURUNDI :
SEMI-MARATHON. ERIC NIYONSABA SUCCÈDE À EMMANUEL NDUWAYO.
le 04/09/2011 à 05:00 par Georges SANTOS
http://www.bienpublic.com/sport-local/2011/09/04/c-est-le-regne-du-burundi
En embuscade avec le n°1161, Eric Niyonsaba trouvera les ressources pour semer ses adversaires en fin de course. Photo Philippe Bruchot
Après les victoires d’Emmanuel Nduwayo en 2009 et 2010, un autre Burundais, Eric Niyonsaba, s’est imposé, hier, sur le 21 km.
Le semi-marathon de la course du Bien public est devenu le territoire de chasse des coureurs africains. En effet, depuis 2005, la première place n’a plus échappé à un coureur de l’Afrique, qu’il soit marocain, kenyan ou burundais.
Le Burundi règne même en maître sur la course dijonnaise, puisqu’après le double succès d’Emmanuel Nduwayo, en 2009 et 2010, son compatriote Eric Niyonsaba a inscrit son nom au palmarès de la vingtième édition de la course du Bien Public et du 21 km avec un temps de 1h10’45’’.
Le coureur aime décidément les 20 es éditions puisqu’en février dernier, il s’était déjà imposé sur celle du 21 km de Villeurbanne, où il est actuellement licencié.
Les coureurs burundais auraient même pu faire le doublé sur le 21 km sans la présence du Rwandais Eric Mazimpaka, qui termine deuxième à seulement quatre secondes d’Eric Niyonsaba, mais quatorze secondes devant l’ancien tenant du titre, Emmanuel Nduwayo.
C’est aussi une représentante du petit pays d’Afrique centrale, Godelieve Nizigiyimana, qui s’est imposée chez les dames en 1h28’06’’.
Malgré la présence élevée des coureurs africains, les deux records du 21 km n’ont pas tremblé (1h06’23 en 2004 chez les messieurs et 1h17’56 en 2005 chez les dames). Il faut dire que la chaleur accablante qui s’est abattue sur le semi-marathon a beaucoup entamé les coureurs. Antoine De Wilde victime d’ampoules
« C’est toujours difficile de courir dans ces conditions», soulignait épuisé, le vainqueur du jour, Eric Niyonsaba. Un sentiment partagé par l’ancien lauréat du 21 km, Emmanuel Nduwayo. « C’était vraiment très dur, c’est d’ailleurs pour cette raison que je n’ai pas pu m’approcher de mon meilleur temps de l’année dernière (1h08’).
Cela n’a pas empêché ce dernier de faire rapidement la course en tête dès les premiers hectomètres aux côtés de Mazimpaka, Niyonsaba, Sébastien Charnay et Antoine De Wilde. Après deux kilomètres, l’écart était déjà fait avec le reste du peloton.
Au fil des kilomètres avalés, Charnay perdait progressivement pied, laissant les Africains et De Wilde s’expliquer. Malheureusement pour le Neversois, deux grosses ampoules à un pied l’obligeait à abandonner entre le 16 e et le 17 e kilomètre.
Au terme d’une fin de course usante physiquement, Eric Niyonsaba prenait un avantage décisif dans le dernier kilomètre pour s’offrir une première victoire à Dijon.
Troisième de la course, Emmanuel Nduwayo, double tenant du titre, se montrait fair-play : « C’est la course. Ce sont des coureurs que je connais très bien. Aujourd’hui, ce n’est pas moi qui gagne, ce sera pour l’année prochaine, je le promets. »
RWANDA :
Trial of Rwandan opposition figure to open Monday
(AFP) – 03/09/2011
KIGALI — The trial of Rwandan opposition figure Victoire Ingabire, an outspoken critic of the country’s leadership and charged with fomenting insecurity and promoting ethnic divisions, opens here Monday.
Ingabire’s trial has already been postponed twice and rights groups said that while they do expect proceedings to go ahead this time around, they are not altogether ruling out a further postponement.
The trial was initially supposed to start May 16 but was pushed back owing to the absence of Ingabire’s lawyers. It was postponed for a second time June 20 after her lawyers asked for more time to prepare.
One of the stumbling blocks to the trial going ahead has been the issue of translating thousands of pages of documents from the local Kinyarwanda language into one mastered by the foreign lawyers on Ingabire’s defence team.
Ingabire’s case file runs to 2,500 pages and only one of her three defence counsels is proficient in the language in which it is written.
However, defence lawyer Gatera Gashabana said that “everything is ready” for the trial.
“All translations that were requested have been made,” Gashabana told AFP.
Ingabire, who has been in detention since her arrest, is charged alongside several co-accused with “giving financial support to a terrorist group, planning to cause state insecurity and divisionism”.
Rwandan prosecutors say they have evidence of her alleged “terrorist” activities, including proof of financial transfers to the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Hutu rebel movement based in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.
Ingabire’s Unified Democratic Forces (UDF), refused accreditation as a political party, accuses Rwandan authorities of fabricating evidence against its leader with the aim of blocking her from political life.
“She is prosecuted because she is seen as a political enemy of the ruling party and its state machinery that operate the tribunals,” the UDF said in a statement Saturday.
“Madame Ingabire is not going to the butchery expecting some kind of justice,” it added.
Ingabire arrived in Rwanda in January 2010 after 17 years in exile in the Netherlands.
She has been an outspoken critic of President Paul Kagame and his regime in the small central African country.
China targets Rwanda infrastructure projects
By BERNA NAMATA (email the author) / Posted Saturday, September 3 2011
Rwanda has become the latest beneficiary of China’s foray into East Africa as the Asian giant seeks to control the region’s economic landscape, also targeted by Japan and India.
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China last week gave Rwanda $15.7 million to boost trade between the two countries. Rwanda will receive half the amount as a grant and the remaining 50 million yuan as a five-year interest free loan, said Gao Hucheng, Chinese Deputy Commerce Minister and international trade representative.
Chinese firms are increasingly making strategic entries into Kigali, targeting mainly infrastructure projects. China will send an expert group to Rwanda for a feasibility study of a 25km road construction project in the capital city of Kigali, financed by the Chinese government.
Chinese engineers are also expected to construct a new ultra-modern clinic in Masaka, a suburb of Kigali.
Kigali for its part is sending a delegation to China, led by Prime Minister Bernard Makuza as it seeks to attract investment from the world’s second largest economy.
“We are beginning to see requests from China after a visit last year. We have another trip planned for November and this is to try to attract more Chinese investors into Rwanda,” John Gara, the chief executive officer of the Rwanda Development Board, the institution charged with promoting investment in the country, told The EastAfrican last week.
“China is also one of the few countries where RDB has an office (in Shenzhen) and it has proved useful,” he said
A July 2011 International Monetary Fund report on Rwanda shows foreign direct investments decline from $118.7 million in 2009 to $42.3 million last year.
RDB is targeting at least $500 million in new investments both local and foreign in 2011. “In the past, we have been promoting Rwanda in a more general way, but now, we are not only targeting certain companies, but also targeting projects,” Mr Gara said.
While Asian investment is steadily rising in the country with the RDB registering 20 companies from the region within a period of six months this year with an estimated value of $16.5 million, Chinese investment is still relatively low compared with India. Between January and July this year, Indian investments were estimated at $9.2 million, mainly in agro-processing, manufacturing and administrative and support service sectors, while Chinese projects amounted to $5 million, mainly in tourism, construction and manufacturing sectors.
“The figures for Chinese FDI are not yet as high as we would want them to be, but certainly we are beginning to see interest,” Mr Gara observed.
Chinese ambassador to Rwanda Shu Zhan said while the country has registered tremendous progress in improving its business environment, including setting up a One-Stop Centre for registration, the “paperwork” is just one aspect of the whole investment environment needed to attract investment.
“The regional situation, especially the uncertain stability of the Great Lakes Region, also affects on the confidence of investors. Rwanda still has room to improve the investment environment, for example, by offering tax breaks,” he said.
Trade between the two countries doubled to $76.4 million in the first half of this year compared with the same period last year.
“There are various areas of interest such as telecoms, mining and engineering. More than 100 such entrepreneurs have already visited Rwanda to get a better understanding of the environment,” he said.
According to Standard Bank Group Ltd, Chinese investment in Africa may grow by 70 per cent to $570 billion by 2015 from 2009, while blateral trade will double to $300 billion by 2015. Chinese firms, led by state-owned China National Offshore Company (CNOOC) are some of the major players in the oil exploration business in East Africa
RDC CONGO :
Une manifestation dispersée au gaz lacrymogène à Kinshasa
La police a dispersé avec des grenades lacrymogènes jeudi à Kinshasa une manifestation du parti du chef de file de l’opposition en République démocratique du Congo (RDC) et candidat à la présidentielle du 28 novembre, Etienne Tshisekedi, a constaté l’AFP.
La manifestation, partie en milieu de matinée du siège de l’Union pour la Démocratie et le Progrès social (UDPS) de M. Tshisekedi, a été stoppée en début d’après-midi par les policiers à l’arrivée des quelques milliers de manifestants aux abords du siège de la Commission électorale nationale indépendante (Ceni), dans le quartier de la Gombe au centre de la capitale.
La police d’intervention rapide (PIR), postée de part et d’autre de la Céni sur le boulevard du 30 juin, la grande artère de Kinshasa, a tiré des grenades lacrymogènes sur les manifestants qui se sont dispersés.
L’UDPS entendait déposer à la Céni un mémorandum réclamant la transparence du processus électoral, un audit du fichier électoral et la cartographie des bureaux de vote, a déclaré à l’AFP Jacques Shabani, son secrétaire général, en dénonçant la répression violente d’une manifestation pacifiste.
M. Shabani a fait état, sans autre précisions, de blessés et d’arrestations, ainsi que de tirs à balles réelles des policiers. Interrogé par l’AFP, le responsable de la police à Kinshasa, le général Jean de Dieu Oleka, a simplement indiqué que des manifestants avaient incendié quelques véhicules. (belga)
02/09/11 07h54
Un premier candidat à la présidentielle en RDC
Un premier candidat à l’élection présidentielle du 28 novembre prochain en République démocratique du Congo (RDC), un avocat kinois de 48 ans, Me Jean Andeka Djamba, a formellement présenté sa candidature, a indiqué samedi la radio onusienne.
Me Andeka, qui préside l’Alliance des nationalistes croyants congolais (ANCC) a déposé son dossier vendredi au Bureau de réception et de traitement de candidature (BRTC), au siège national de la Commission électorale nationale indépendante (Ceni) à Kinshasa.
“Le Congo a longtemps souffert des traumatismes politiques. Vous constatez que dans notre pays, il y a des camps qui font troubler notre peuple”, a-t-il affirmé à sa sortie de la Ceni. Les candidats ont jusqu’au 11 septembre pour déposer leur dossier dans les BRTC installés dans les chefs-lieux des onze provinces.
Parmi les candidats attendus figurent le président congolais sortant, Joseph Kabila, qui a été investi par la Majorité présidentielle (MP, la vaste plate-forme qui le soutient), l’opposant historique Etienne Tshisekedi, leader de l’Union pour la Démocratie et le Progrès social (UDPS), l’ancien vice-président Jean-Pierre Bemba pour le Mouvement de Libération du Congo (MLC, opposition), et Vital Kamerhe, 51 ans, ex-président de l’Assemblée nationale passé dans l’opposition en 2010 en créant l’Union pour la Nation congolaise (UNC).
L’actuel président du Sénat – et ex-Premier ministre du maréchal Mobutu Sese Seko -, Léon Kengo wa Dondo, n’a pas dévoilé ses intentions mais a été investi candidat par son parti, l’Union des Forces du Changement (UFC).
Des personnalités moins connues, comme le président de l’Union pour le Réveil et le Développement du Congo (URDC), François Nicéphore Kakese Malela, et le révérend Jean-Paul Moka, de la plate-forme politique Mouvement bleu, ont aussi annoncé leur volonté de concourir. (belga)
03/09/11 11h32
UGANDA :
Gay Ugandan refugee finds home in Bay Area
By MATT O’BRIEN – Published: Sunday, Sep. 4, 2011
OAKLAND, Calif. — Being gay in Uganda was never easy for gospel singer Daniel Dyson, but the anti-gay hysteria that erupted in the African nation two years ago forced him to flee.
Prominent Christian pastors had launched a political movement to eliminate homosexuality in the country. They employed professed ex-gays to reveal the names, whereabouts and other identifying details of gay residents in Kampala, the capital city. Dyson was on the list.
“This is a killer dossier,” the tabloid Red Pepper newspaper wrote in an April 2009 article outing Dyson and dozens of others. “A heat-pounding (sic) and sensational masterpiece that largely exposes Uganda’s shameless men and unabashed women that have deliberately exported the Western evils to our dear and sacred society.”
Dyson, who landed in the Bay Area in the spring, is among the first refugees the United States has invited to live in California specifically because of anti-gay persecution abroad. The nonprofit groups that helped him move here – Jewish Family and Children’s Services of the East Bay and the San Francisco-based Organization for Refuge Asylum and Migration – are among the first in the country to take sexual orientation into account in the way they integrate refugees into a new community, aware that the ethnic communities and extended families most refugees rely on for support won’t necessarily accommodate them.
The State Department and the organizations that team with it usually rely on existing immigrant communities to help refugees find a job and become self-sufficient, but local organizations instead are using the gay community as a safety net, said Barbara Nelson of Jewish Family and Children’s Services, which also is working with a few gay refugees from Iran.
Dyson lived for a few months with a host family in Oakland before finding his own place in one of the world’s best-known gay neighborhoods: San Francisco’s Castro district. Volunteers helped him find an office job at a gay advocacy organization. The gregarious 30-something, who speaks near-perfect English, needed little help finding friends and outlets for his gospel singing.
“I am living really freely as a gay man. I’m what I am,” he said. “I have freedom. I’m not afraid for my life anymore. I can sleep peacefully.”
Dyson realized after arriving that “even in the U.S., gay people are fighting for their rights, their marriage rights,” but after attending a celebratory LGBT advocacy function, he also knew that his challenges here would be a world away from the problems in Uganda.
“I said, ‘Oh my God, these people are getting awards.’ Back home, we were running for our life,” he said.
Terrified by a growing movement tinged with violent rhetoric, many in the Ugandan gay community went further underground. Dyson did the opposite, defending his community on radio talk shows and trying to fight common misconceptions.
“They were saying that we were destroying African culture, so I went to the media houses, trying to educate people that gay people, we are African people, we are here,” he said.
He had been involved in low-profile lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activism for more than five years, but the barrage of venom grew in 2009. On his way back from a radio station that spring, armed men kidnapped and brutally assaulted Dyson, he said, leaving injuries from which he is still recovering. He fled across the Kenyan border several days later.
About 76 countries prohibit homosexuality. In seven, it can be punishable by death.
Uganda is debating whether to imprison gays and execute those with “aggravated homosexuality” offenses. The lawmaker who proposed the bill and other Ugandan anti-gay activists have close ties to U.S.-based evangelical movements, though many American pastors have since distanced themselves from the bill and its proponents.
As more countries threaten to penalize homosexuality with jail or death, the United States and United Nations are breaking down some of the institutional barriers that prevent many gays, lesbians and transgender people from seeking refuge. Most of those awarded refugee status belong to a political, ethnic or religious groups and are in danger in their homeland and have no place to live safely. LGBT status also can be considered a social class in countries where gays and lesbians have a well-founded fear of persecution.
“It hasn’t been a legal obstacle in a long time, but there have been enormous systemic obstacles,” said Neil Grungras, director of the nonprofit Organization for Refuge Asylum and Migration. “Few people, extremely few people, said this is the reason I’m being persecuted. We’re trying to make the system more open, less blocked.”
Kenya was not a safe place for Dyson, especially the cramped refugee camp where he found himself surrounded by refugees from war-torn nations with strict social views.
Dyson, who has changed his last name, in part because his family disowned him, befriended an American social worker from the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society while he was living in Kenya. She connected him with Grungras, who encouraged him to move to California.
“They said, ‘Danny would fit here in the Bay Area.’ I love it here,” Dyson said.
For any refugee adjusting to a new country, getting acquainted with American life so quickly is remarkable, Grungras said. For someone without any family or cultural ties here, he added, it is extraordinary.
“I don’t know what it’s like for him every day. He carries a lot of pain around. Those scars just never really go away,” Grungras said.
“But in terms of how he’s doing, the way we measure resettlement success, he has a stable and good housing situation he likes, he has a job that’s completely stable and he likes. He’s completely self-reliant after just four months in the U.S. He’s got community. He’s got friends.”
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/09/04/3884403/gay-ugandan-refugee-finds-home.html#ixzz1W6W6uK00
SOUTH AFRICA:
Aveng, Central Rand Gold, Metorex: South African Equity Preview
By Renee Bonorchis – Sep 4, 2011
The following stocks may rise or fall in South Africa. Symbols are in parentheses and prices are from the last close.
The FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index dropped 569.2, or 1.8 percent, to 30,518.92 by the 5 p.m. close in Johannesburg.
AVI Ltd. (AVI) : The producer and distributor of consumer goods including food and cosmetics releases full-year earnings. The stock declined 55 cents, or 1.7 percent, to 32.75 rand.
Aveng Ltd. (AEG) : The country’s largest construction company reports full-year earnings. The shares tumbled 27 cents, or 0.8 percent, to 33.28 rand.
Central Rand Gold Ltd. (CRD) : The South African producer of the metal may be forced to close its mine near Soweto, Johannesburg as early as this week following a government order, the Sunday Times said, citing Bheki Khumalo, spokesman for the Department of Mineral Resources. The shares fell 9.1 percent to 10 cents.
Metorex Ltd. (MTX) : The copper producer releases first- half results. The stock was unchanged at 8.35 rand.
Tiger Brands Ltd. (TBS) : The country’s largest food company holds its annual general meeting. Tiger Brands slipped 2.58 rand, or 1.2 percent, to 205.22 rand.
Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon Ltd. (WBO) : The construction company reports full-year earnings. WBHO, as it is known, fell 2.10 rand, or 2.1 percent, to 97.70 rand.
The following stocks will begin trading without the right to the latest dividend: AECI Ltd. (AFE) , Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) , Argent Industrial Ltd. (ART) , BHP Billiton Plc (BIL SJ), Clientele Ltd. (CLI) , Grindrod Ltd. (GND) , Hospitality Property Fund Ltd. (HPA SJ and HPB SJ), JSE Ltd. (JSE) , Morvest Business Group Ltd. (MOR SJ), Nedbank Group Ltd. (NED) , New Europe Property Investments Plc (NEP SJ), Standard Bank Group Ltd. (SBK SJ), Truworths International Ltd. (TRU) .
To contact the reporter on this story: Renee Bonorchis in Johannesburg at rbonorchis@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Edward Evans at eevans3@bloomberg.net
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TANZANIA:
Kenya lagging far behind Uganda, Tanzania in attracting investment
Kenya is the biggest loser in the battle for foreign direct investments (FDI) into the EAC region as more investors stream into Uganda and Tanzania.
By ALLAN ODHIAMBO Saturday, September 3 2011
Kenya is the biggest loser in the battle for foreign direct investments (FDI) into the EAC region as more investors stream into Uganda and Tanzania.
The FDI inflows to Kenya dipped to $133 million in 2010 from $144 million the previous year, according to a new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad).
Kenya’s FDI inflow stood at a high of $729 million in 2007, signalling the magnitude of the slump in just three years. A dip in FDI inflows has various consequences including fewer new jobs as firms take on austerity measures such as freezes in hiring.
“East Africa’s increase was modest (2.5 per cent), as inflows to the sub-region’s largest recipient, Madagascar, fell substantially (19 per cent). FDI to the sub-region’s two other large recipients, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania, have tended to be stable in recent years and held broadly steady in 2010,” the UN agency said in its World Investment report for 2011.
In 2010, Uganda attracted FDI inflows worth $848 million, up from $816 million the previous year, while Tanzania realised $700 million last year compared with $645 million in 2009.
Kenyan firms such as oil marketer Kenol Kobil are some of the biggest contributors to FDI growth in Uganda.
Data from Unctad shows that KenolKobil had the second highest greenfield investment in Uganda in 2010 worth $1.7 billion in coal, gas and natural gas projects. This was the third highest investment in a greenfield project among poor countries worldwide in 2010.
British firm Tullow Oil was the highest investor in greenfield projects in Uganda over 2010 with a portfolio worth $5 billion. Tullow also sank the resources into coal, gas and natural gas projects.
Greenfield investments involve the creation of business operations rather than simply merger and acquisition (M&A) with existing firms.
The Ugandan government estimates oil reserves in the Lake Albertine Basin at 2 billion barrels but says they could be much higher. This has triggered a scramble for this key resource, with multinationals and regional firms angling for stakes.
KenolKobil announced in January that it had bought Phoenix Uganda Petroleum Ltd for an undisclosed amount to raise its capacity in Uganda. The deal involved a 1,800 metric tonne fuel terminal, a three-storey office block and three service stations in Uganda’s capital Kampala, bringing its total to 66 stations.
Analysts have blamed Kenya’s lack of attractiveness for FDI on a myriad factors including political uncertainty, bureaucratic business approval processes and restrictive laws on foreign business ownership.
The World Bank last year pointed out that restrictions on participation in business had seen foreign investors steer clear of Kenya.
For instance, in Kenya, foreign capital participation in telecommunications is limited to a maximum of 70 per cent.
However, the law provides foreign investors with a grace period of three years to build up the required domestic capital contribution of 30 per cent.
KENYA:
Kenya triumphs as Kirui adds gold
By Kimathi Kamau
http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000042167&cid=4
Among the hordes of Manchester United fans who relished the 8-2 drubbing the English Premiership champions handed Arsenal last weekend was Abel Kirui, who once again, crushed what the world threw at him to retain his men’s marathon title.
Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, would have been proud of the thrashing the affable runner handed the field.
Kirui sealed the most comprehensive victory the ultimate distance race the Worlds has ever witnessed when he took gold almost two and a half minutes ahead of silver winner and compatriot, Vincent Kipruto.
“When my team beat Arsenal, I was so happy. It was a good sign for me and today, it felt like scoring eight goals,” he said after racing the second fastest time at the marathon in a World Championships of 2:07:38.
Just like fellow Daegu winner, Ezekiel Kemboi, who held on to his 3000m steeplechase title from Berlin, Kirui failed to beat his own championship’s best of 2:06:54 he clocked in Germany but he landed a performance that left many jaws agape on Sunday.
The opening half of the race was the usual cat and mouse game every championship event witnesses but in the punishing humidity and heat around the streets of the colourful city of Daegu, Team Kenya had four runners fronting the field at the 25km mark.
Kirui, Kipruto who sealed silver in 2:10:06, Eliud Kiptanui (2:11:50/sixth) and David Barmasai Tumo (2:11:35/fifth) had nosed in front with only Ethiopia’s Feyisa Lilesa (2:10:32/bronze) and Morocco’s Abderrahime Bouramdane (2:10:55/fourth) as the only runners without the red, green and black strip.
That was the 25km mark and it only took three more for Kirui to commit what only a supremely confident marathoner can do, engage a killer burst that saw him disappear from all the challengers at the 30km with the split done in 14:18, the fastest 5km ever at a Worlds race.
From then on, it was a matter of whether the first Kenyan to be a twice marathon world champion would ran out of steam or the extent he would hammer his rivals and the latter prevailed.
“It’s quite early to go for home and many times such moves do not work,” the commentator at the broadcast centre said only later for him to say, “This man does not seem to be diminishing.”
When he pressed the stop button to hand Kenya her fourth marathon title, complete the ultimate distance race double in Daegu and above all, earn a record setting seventh gold for his nation.
“Before I came here, I visited my grandmother to seek her blessings and I felt so strong out there. I was not afraid of going for it since I had trained well,” the only runner with a yellow bib to signify he was the defending champion added.
At the beginning of the year, Kirui, who had endured a lean period after succeeding Luke Kibet as the world marathon champion, with a fifth finish in London and ninth place run in New York last year, had set his target of smashing his close friend Haile Gebrselassie’s 2:03:59 world record in Berlin.
Having not raced a spring marathon, he was overlooked by selectors when they named the provisional marathon squad for Daegu with his status as the titleholder that entitled him automatic entry discarded.
However, a slew of top marathoners handed the Kenyan jersey including London winner and 2009 silver medallist. Emmanuel Mutai, Boston champion, Geoffrey Mutai and runner-up, Moses Mosop declined the offer to race for their country having been already booked for full marathons.
Athletics Kenya then turned to Kirui, who by then, had been almost the forgotten man in Kenyan marathon running.
“When I was asked to run for my country, I consulted with my coach and although I was ready to fight for the record, my country needed me and I decided, the record can wait for now,” the runner who is now coached by Renato Canova and moved his training from Kapsabet to Iten explained.
The added bonus of the men marathoners was Kenya won her second marathon World Cup at these championships, to put an official stamp to what has always been known — the country possesses the best ultimate distance athletes on the planet.
