By Admin,

Rwanda FA have suffered a blow on their plans to host the Inaugural Genocide cup later in June  after  Uganda Cranes declined to accept their  invite.

Rwanda had lined up Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania and the Amavubi Stars for the Cup to commemorate lives of over 70 football players, coaches, administrators and fans, who died in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi ethnic group in the country.

In a statement   FUFA spokesman Hussein Ahmed said that the Uganda Cranes have a tight schedule to allow it to honour the invitation on June 6-7.

“We have resolved not to play in the Genocide Cup because we already have an international friendly match, the Uganda Cup final and the AFCON qualifier against Botswana all around the same time next month,” Ahmed said.

The Genocide Cup is slated for June 6-7 while the Uganda Cranes are lined up to play a friendly match on June 9 before taking on Botswana in the 2017 AFCON qualifier in Kampala four days (June 13) later and the CHAN qualifier against Tanzania on June 20.

But before all that the Uganda Cup competition involving KCCA FC and SC Villa players on the national teams will be on June 6 in Western Uganda.

Rwandese media had quoted Cranes coach Micho Sredojevic as saying that “the event (Genocide Cup) will be very good to prepare our players ahead of the (CHAN) qualifier against Tanzania on June 20.”

It had also quoted the football federation FERWAFA CEO Olivier Mulindahabi saying that Kenya and Uganda had confirmed their participation verbally.

Additional reporting from New Vision

Collins Okinyo

Ex- CAF Media Expert. An expert on African football with over 15 years experience ,always with an ear to the ground with indepth knowledge of the game. I have worked for top publications including 7 years at www.supersport.com until i founded www.soka25east.com to quench the thirst of football lovers across the continent. I have trained young upcoming journalists who are now a voice in African football.I have covered World Cup,AFCON,CHAN,Champions League,Confederations Cup,Cecafa,Cosafa,Wafu and many other football tournaments across the World. Founder Football Africa Arena(FAA),Founder www.afrisportdigital.com