Television broadcasters in Cecafa member-countries wishing to air the matches from Kigali will be required to pay a one- time fee of $10,000 for the Rwanda Television feed. The fee is $500 for radio stations providing live commentary.
The Rwanda government will spend $134,000 on equipment, personnel and labour costs during the two-week regional tournament. Rwanda football officials have contracted experienced sports commentators from South Africa and Uganda to cover the matches.

The Rwanda National Information Bureau director, Wilson Rutayisire, told The EastAfrican last week that an agreement with Cecafa and Kenya's Media Plus for covering all the 20 matches live had been signed.
The tournament has four main sponsors who, according to the agreement signed in Nairobi last week, will share the proceeds from the championship with the Rwandan tournament organisers.

"Our main objective is not to make money from the tournament but to ensure that people in the region watch the matches live," he said.
Rutayisire, however, denied knowledge of reports that funds provided by Fifa to meet tournament expenses ended up in the Cecafa account in Nairobi.
"We are not aware of funds meant for the tournament ending up in Nairobi. We are still waiting for funds from Fifa," he said.

A Fifa representative to the tournament, Mr Dusan Maravich, is in Rwanda to help the local football federation, Ferwafa, to organise the championship and examine all the financial aspects of it.
Fifa has undertaken to pay for teams' accommodation and travel.
Maravich, who is the Yugoslav Football Association's vice president, said Fifa's unprecedented assistance to the region's football was part of a new policy of developing the sport in poor countries.
Ferwafa officials put the tentative budget at $560,000.
"We cannot at this moment determine with precision the final costs of preparing the championship," said Caeser Kayisari, the Ferwafa president.
Kayisari said the Kenyan company, Media Plus, had bought the rights to televise the matches live to all participating countries but he declined to disclose the amount.

Group A: Rwanda A, Tanzania, Djibouti
Group B: Uganda, Burundi, Somalia
Group C: Sudan Ethiopia, Zanzibar
Group D: Kenya, Eritrea, Rwanda B

Fixture:
July 24: Rwanda A vs Djibouti 3.30 pm
July 25: Uganda vs Burundi 3.30pm; Ethiopia vs Zanzibar 5.30 pm.
July 26: Tanzania vs Djibouti 3.30pm, Rwanda B vs Eritrea 5.30 pm
July 27: Sudan vs Ethiopia 3.30 pm, Somalia vs Burundi 5.30 pm
July 28: Kenya vs Eritrea 3.30 pm, Rwanda A vs Tanzania 5.30 pm
July 29: Sudan vs Zanzibar 3.30 pm, Uganda vs Somalia 5.30 pm
July 30: Kenya vs Rwanda B 3.30 pm.
Reported by Stephen Ouma and Shyaka Kanuma

Surprise packets Burundi hold Cranes
By NATION Reporter and AFP
Tuesday, July 27, 1999 This year's East and Central Africa Senior Challenge Cup in Kigali, Rwanda looks headed for a dramatic finish if the early results are anything to go by.
Besides the expected thunderous 4-1 group `A' win by hosts Rwanda `A' over lowly Djibouti in the opening game at the Amahoro Stadium in Kigali on Saturday, Sunday's results gave a pointer to the unpredictability of this year's event.

In Group `B', Uganda Cranes were held to a surprise 0-0 draw by Burundi, one of Africa's fastest rising nations whose top player Nonda "Papi" Shaban made headlines in the French First Division league at Rennes last season.
And 1995 champions Zanzibar fell 0-2 to Ethiopia in a Group `C' game also played on Sunday at the same venue.
The Cranes, coached by Paul Hasule, are the defending champions and six-time winners of the regional Challenge Cup.

Kenya's Harambee Stars, seeking to reclaim the title they last won in 1983 when the team's current greying team manager Elly Adero was still playing, have to wait until tomorrow for their opening match in Group `D' against one of Africa's most exciting new finds Eritrea.
They may have been drubbed 6-2 by Senegal last week in an Africa Nations' Cup qualifier and eliminated from the All Africa Games 2-3 on aggregate by Uganda last weekend, but Eritrea possess the skills to outwit any seasoned side.

Eritrea upset Kenya 1-0 in their last meeting at the 1994 Challenge Cup in Mumias and went on to reach the semi-finals where they lost to eventual winners Tanzania.
Stars on the other hand hold coach Christian Chukwu's life in their hands with the ex-Nigerian international badly seeking some silverware to justify his continued stay as Stars' head coach.
Yesterday, Tanzania's Taifa Stars had a date against Djibouti in Group `A' with Rwanda `B' playing Eritrea in Group `D'.

Today's matches will see Somalia taking on Burundi in what is likely to be a one-sided Group `B' game while Sudan takes on Ethiopia in a potentially explosive Group `C' encounter.
All the tournament's games are being played at Kigali's Amahoro Stadium with the top two teams from each group qualifying for the quarter-finals from this Saturday. The final is scheduled for August 7.
The results so far: Group `A': Rwanda `A' 4 Djibouti 1; Group `B': Uganda 0 Burundi 0; Group `C': Ethiopia 2 Zanzibar 0.

Walyas Beat Zanzibar 2-0 At CECAFA
The Monitor - Addis Ababa (July 27, 1999) Addis Ababa - Ethiopian national soccer team, the Walyas, beat the Zanzibar side 2-0 in the ongoing tournament of Confederation of East and Central African Football Associations (CECAFA) in Kigali, Rwanda on Sunday to boost their morale for a tougher second encounter later Tuesday against the Sudanese squad.

The Ethiopian side won with a goal each in both halves. According to reports from Kigali, midfielder Mulualem Regasa earned the opener just seconds from the kick off.
Veteran striker Assegid Tesfaye score in the second half. The national soccer fans were eagerly awaiting a live radio transmission from the Rwandan capital at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday; but the national radio failed to do so due to unspecified "technical problems".
The match between Ethiopia and Sudan is also expected to be transmitted live later today. The Ethiopia-Sudan match is crucial.

For the national side, with a win or a draw enough to give Ethiopia a place into the second round. A win for Ethiopia means completing the preliminary round on top of Group C.
A defeat for Sudan will give Zanzibar equal opportunity to determine their qualifying chance into the next round. The Ethiopian national team had participated in CECAFA championships three years ago in Kampala, Uganda under the same coach Seyoum Abate.

At that time they were able to advance into the second round as top of their group.
By NATION Reporter and AFP
Looking up to soccer to nurse the wounds inflicted by years of internal war, Rwanda's organisers of this year's East and Central Africa Senior Challenge Cup ran into early logistical problems as the tournament got underway at Kigali's Amahoro Stadium on Saturday.
But the Rwanda Football Association officials could not have hoped for a better start than the home team's 4-1 drubbing of Africa's new soccer boys Djibouti in the tournament's opener.

But the championship, the oldest regional championship in Africa, was marred with early protests over poor living conditions from some of the participating teams.
Some of the teams accommodated at the School of Education at Ramera, a short drive from the Amahoro Stadium, decried the poor sanitary facilities, according to reports in Uganda's Monitor newspaper.
"The teams said the sleeping facilities were inadequate, the meals wanting and the toilet situation even worse," the newspaper wrote.
"They only applauded the transport facilities accorded them so far."

Rwanda FA officials accepted that there were initial problems but gave an assurance that the Confederation of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) had moved in to address the problem.
Kenya's CECAFA secretary- general Sam Nyamweya and the confederation's other officials are already in Rwanda for the championship.
The matches are being broadcast by Rwanda's national television station. Rwanda's 4-1 win on Saturday came in a scrappy match.

Thierry Hitimana, Nseko Sefu, Amodi Katauti and Dieudonne Hategekimana scored for the Rwandans and Mahad Said was the Djibouti marksman at the Amahoro Stadium.
The winning margin would have been much higher but for a string of superb saves from Mohamed Wahib, a 27-year-old goalkeeper making only his third international appearance.

Rwanda were also guilty of over elaboration in attack and wild shooting and were constantly caught offside during the second half after building a 3-1 half-time lead. Djibouti wasted a good chance to create an exciting finish when second-half substitute Dirieh Hared fired a 70th-minute penalty kick wide after Sefu handled in the box.

Hitimana opened the scoring after 16 minutes, Sefu turned sharply to fire the second nine minutes later and a rout seemed possible when Katauti headed the third with 36 minutes gone. Slack marking at a free kick allowed Said to reduce arrears in the 40th minute and the final goal came six minutes before time.
Defending champions Uganda, Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania and Zanzibar are also competing.

Kenya highest ranked team in Rwanda
By NATION Reporter and Agencies
Monday, July 26, 1999 Despite a recent string of disappointing performances in the Africa Nations' Cup qualifiers, Kenya's Harambee Stars are still in the top 100 in the Fifa World Rankings for July.
This is the psychological headstart that Christian Chukwu's charges will have in Kigali when they take on Eritrea on Wednesday in the East and Central Africa Challenge Cup as they are the highest ranked team among the Challenge Cup participants.

Kenya are ranked at number 100, maintaining the position they held last month, according to the standings released by Fifa on Wednesday.
Stars have 368 points in the monthly rankings of national soccer teams which do not include teams inactive since 1991.
The highest-placed African team in the rankings, which consider competitive internationals, at number 19 is Morocco followed by Tunisia (28), South Africa (29), Zambia (32), Egypt (38), Ghana (46), Cameroon (51), D.R. Congo (59), Algeria (69), Nigeria (70), Mali (73), Gabon (74) and Zimbabwe (75).

Others in the top 100 are Burkina Faso (77), Togo (79), Guinea (82), Namibia (83), Senegal (85), Mozambique (93), Liberia (95) and Congo Brazaville (96).
Defending Challenge Cup champions Uganda are at number 108, having dropped from their 104 June position while 1994 champions Tanzania are at 123.
Positions for the other teams in the East and Central Africa region are: Sudan (117), Burundi (134), Ethiopia (140), Eritrea (172), Rwanda (177), Seychelles (184) and Djibouti (194).

In the rankings, Brazil increased their lead while Uruguay, Mexico and Chile all climbed significantly, the reward for their strong performance at the recently completed Copa America.
Uruguay made the biggest jump, using its runner-up finish to climb 32 places to 42nd while third-placed Mexico moved up three to 11th and fourth-placed Chile rose seven spots to 22nd.