Sudan braced for an influx of Algerian and Egyptian fans on Monday for this week's crunch World Cup qualification play-off as fears of trouble mounted after disturbances in Algeria that drew an Egyptian protest. Police deployed in numbers when the two squads flew in to Khartoum on Sunday and there was no repetition of the stone-throwing by Egyptian fans which left three Algerian players injured when they arrived ahead of Saturday's game in Cairo.
But a rash of violence following the 2-0 Egyptian victory, which forced Wednesday's neutral-venue play-off here, ratcheted up the security worries. The Egyptian foreign ministry summoned the Algerian ambassador to seek increased security for its nationals after Sunday's 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. Fifteen offices of Orascom Telecoms Algerie (OTA), a subsidiary of the Egyptian group Orascom, were ransacked on Sunday, causing more than five million dollars in damage, its communications chief Hamid Grine said.
"More than 70,000 mobile phones with a value of five million dollars were destroyed or stolen," Grine said, adding that between 3,000 and 5,000 rioters were involved. The company also said one of its employees was assaulted at Algiers airport. And the Algiers offices of Egypt Air were ransacked during a protest by thousands of Algerian football fans, an AFP journalist said.
Algeria's ambassador in Cairo, Abdelkader Hadjar, told reporters that 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. The Sudanese Football Federation insisted that no special steps were being taken for the game at a 40,000 seat stadium in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman.
"Security measures will be in place as for any other international fixture," a Federation official told AFP. State-owned flag-carrier Air Algerie unveiled plans on Sunday to fly 10,000 Algerian fans to Sudan for the winner takes all game. Thirty special flights were being laid on from Algiers with fans being charged around 200 dollars for a return ticket, a quarter of the usual fare, the official APS news agency reported. Air Algerie executive chairman Abdelouahid Bouabdallah said that both the match tickets and the Sudanese entry visas would be free for the lucky fans who secured places on the special flights.
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.