Rwandans have lost the opportunity to see Samuel Eto’o-led Indomitable Lions of Cameroon carry out their final preparation ahead of the Orange/Africa Cup of Nations Cup finals due next month in Angola.

The Indomitable Lions had requested the local football body, Ferwafa to use the Northern Province as their training base ahead of the Nations’ Cup final.

While confirming the development, Sport and Culture Minister Joseph Habineza said, "It is true Cameroon requested to use Gisenyi as their training base but that’s as far as I know.” He referred this reporter to Ferwafa for further details.

When contacted, Ferwafa Chief Executive Officer Jules Kalisa also confirmed the news but admitted that due to lack of proper training facilities in the Northern Province it was impossible for the arrangement to pass.

"They wanted to train in Northern Province (Gisenyi) but there is no standard stadium they can use. So we told them that it was impossible for them to use Gisenyi because of the stadium issue,” Kalisa said.

Cameroon’s French technician Paul Le Guen has arranged for a short regrouping from January 4-10, 2010 and their new base has been shifted to Nairobi, Kenya.

They are set to train at Nyayo stadium before their departure for Lubango in Angola, where they play their first match in Group D on January 13 against Gabon. Then it will meet Zambia and, later, Tunisia. 

Meanwhile, Ferwafa officials wants to use the upcoming Nations’ Cup finals to convince Cameroon, Algeria, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Ghana to lure them in taking advantage of Kigali’s state-of-the-art sport facilities for training before their FIFA World Cup contest in South Africa next June.

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