There is a political situation in Kenya right now where the Kenyan Muslims feel misused by the government. They have threatened to disrupt the World Cross Country Championships in a few weeks if their demands are not meant.

Muslim leaders in Mombasa in recent weeks have threatened to disrupt the international championships unless the government releases Kenyans held on suspicion of engaging in terrorism and those detained in Somalia and Ethiopia. The protests were led by Sheik Mohamed Dor, secretary-general of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya. Dor said his group will disrupt the races unless the detainees are released, but that there will be no violence. “We are going to have a very, very big demonstration to disrupt the cross country,” he told The Associated Press Tuesday. “Every international media would be in Mombasa, so we want to show the world that Kenyan Muslims are marginalized.”

The IAAF assures everyone that they are in contact with the Kenyan government and that security will be in place and keep everybody safe. The threats do not include threats of violence, so if anything does happen then hopefully nobody will be hurt. However, these sorts of things can easily get out of hand, so hopefully nothing happens.

What I do not really understand is why disrupt a cross country meet? I realize that it would be high profile and that there would be news organizations there, but I still have trouble figuring out what people hope to accomplish in circumstances such as these.

(Sources: IAAF – ESPN.com)