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Eritrean football team missing after match in Kenya
The Telegraph ^ | 12/15/2009 | Mike Pflanz in Nairobi

Posted on 12/16/2009 8:33:26 PM PST by bruinbirdman

Entire Eritrean national football team has gone missing after failing to board a flight home following a match in Kenya.

Only the squad's coach and one other official arrived back in Eritrea after the team was knocked out in the quarter finals of the CECAFA tournament for east and central Africa.


The Eritrean national football team pose for a group photo before the start of the match against Tanzania,
at the Nyayo National stadium in Nairobi

The twelve players are believed to be hiding somewhere in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, where there are tens of thousands who have fled Eritrea's government.

Nicholas Musonye, general secretary of CECAFA, said: "The tour guide waited for them in vain at the airport on Saturday when the team was (due to travel) back home.

"We think they are hiding somewhere with the intention of going somewhere, or just intending to remain here. We have alerted the authorities to help track them down."

Mr Musonye said the president of Eritrea's football association, Tesfaye Gebreyessus, had confirmed the team did not return after losing 4-0 to Tanzania.

Eritrean government rules state that any athlete competing abroad must lodge a bond of several thousand pounds before leaving the country to guarantee their return.

This is not the first time that Eritrean sportsmen and women have failed to find their flights home.

Britain granted six runners political asylum after they contacted Home Office representatives during a cross country championship meet in Edinburgh last year.

Four footballers with the Eritrean Red Sea club went missing in Nairobi in 2006 after an African Champions League game.

Critics point to repressive governance, compulsory military service and failure to tackle poverty as reasons for the growing exodus.

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: africa; eritrea; kenya; missing; politicalasylum; soccer; tanzania
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1 posted on 12/16/2009 8:33:27 PM PST by bruinbirdman
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To: bruinbirdman

Hopefully they aren’t having the kinds of problems the Uruguayan rugby team had after boarding a flight.


2 posted on 12/16/2009 8:38:36 PM PST by Paleo Conservative
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To: bruinbirdman

hmmm....more reasons to be glad I was born in America! Thank you Father in heaven!


3 posted on 12/16/2009 8:39:30 PM PST by coloradomomba (BO stinks!)
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To: bruinbirdman
...in before the birth certificate jokes.

Prayers up.

4 posted on 12/16/2009 8:40:12 PM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: coloradomomba

Ditto That, thank you Jesus


5 posted on 12/16/2009 8:40:37 PM PST by cmsgop ( Sergeant Mark Renninger, RIP, I'll miss You Dude)
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To: bruinbirdman

“Critics point to repressive governance, compulsory military service and failure to tackle poverty as reasons for the growing exodus.”

Smart people, not coming here. Take out the military part, and they wouldn’t know the difference from home.


6 posted on 12/16/2009 8:40:48 PM PST by BobL (Real Men don't use Tag Lines)
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To: bruinbirdman

Probably find their bones strewn around one of those big pots sitting on a cold cooking fire in the jungle.


7 posted on 12/16/2009 8:41:10 PM PST by jmax
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To: jmax

Hahaha and all the well-fed village children wearing new green soccer uniforms...


8 posted on 12/16/2009 8:49:45 PM PST by Feline_AIDS (Boop boop hoop yeah!)
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To: BobL
Take out the military part, and they wouldn’t know the difference from home.

that's still something the RATS - with Rangel at the head - still want here.

We've got an incredible military without the draft - not a lot of j effing scary's looking to get a scratch and demanding a band aid, shooting into a basket of rice and getting some in his butt - there's 2 of his requisite Purple Hearts for the 3 to demand getting out.

I really don't know how the man can look himself in the mirror let alone show his face in public - arrg, the face.

9 posted on 12/16/2009 8:52:32 PM PST by maine-iac7 ("He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help" Lincoln)
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To: bruinbirdman

Eritrean? I thought I was aware of every country on Earth, somehow I missed this one. Where is this land?


10 posted on 12/16/2009 8:55:30 PM PST by Inyo-Mono (Had God not driven man from the Garden of Eden the Sierra Club surely would have.)
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To: Inyo-Mono

I think it split off from Ethiopia


11 posted on 12/16/2009 9:03:47 PM PST by GeronL (Join the Palin Beer Summit Putsch!!)
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To: bruinbirdman
OK, what's with the poofy shirts?
12 posted on 12/16/2009 9:13:05 PM PST by T. P. Pole
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To: bruinbirdman

They were probably asked for dinner some place....


13 posted on 12/16/2009 9:15:25 PM PST by llevrok (Love and mental illness are similar. At first, all seems normal.)
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To: GeronL
I think it split off from Ethiopia.

That's correct, I used to work with someone from Eritrea.

14 posted on 12/16/2009 9:28:34 PM PST by higgmeister ( From the Shadow of The Big Chicken!)
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To: GeronL; Inyo-Mono

Eritria did indeed split off from Ethiopia after a 3 decades-long civil war.

Took the whole beach with them, too, leaving Ethipia landlocked.


15 posted on 12/16/2009 9:36:02 PM PST by Ready4Freddy (Everyone knows there's a difference between muslims & terrorists... no one knows what it is, though.)
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To: Inyo-Mono

Near Urethra.


16 posted on 12/16/2009 9:36:29 PM PST by samadams2000 (Someone important make......The Call!)
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To: bruinbirdman
"We think they are hiding somewhere with the intention of going somewhere, or just intending to remain here...."

Really? I think that covers all bases.

17 posted on 12/16/2009 9:50:20 PM PST by reformed_dem (And DON'T call me Shirley)
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To: bruinbirdman

God. Imagine Kenya being the better of your options.


18 posted on 12/16/2009 9:51:06 PM PST by The Good Doctor (Democracy is the only system where you can vote for a tax that you can avoid the obligation to pay.)
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To: higgmeister

I worked at a restaurant with a beautiful Eritrean girl. Home of Haile Selassie, worshipped as God incarnate among followers of the Rastafari movement (Eritrea, not the restaurant).


19 posted on 12/16/2009 10:06:13 PM PST by manic4organic (Obama shot hoops, America lost troops.)
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To: manic4organic

Eritreans standout because of their lighter skin, their high cheekbones, and slender builds....very handsome people....Ethiopians are also good looking but not as much as the Eritreans....


20 posted on 12/16/2009 10:55:10 PM PST by cherry
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