In scenes more akin to a prelude to war than a soccer match, Algeria won Africa’s last place in next year’s World Cup finals in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Wednesday.

With 15,000 extra security men manning the stadium and heavily armed riot police on virtually every street corner for Algeria’s 1-0 win over Egypt, there was little opportunity for major violence.

Fears of riots in Khartoum spread as some Algerian fans said they were out for revenge after Egyptians stoned their team bus, injuring three players at their previous encounter in Cairo. Twenty Algerians were injured in clashes after that match on Saturday, and the next day Egyptian businesses were ransacked in Algiers.

But the riots never happened and Sudanese police in the stadium were left slightly bewildered by ecstatic Algerian fans blowing them kisses and chanting pro-Sudanese slogans.

There had been only minor scuffles ahead of the match and afterwards a number of buses carrying Egyptian fans were stoned, windows broken and people cut by flying glass as they headed for the airport.

The massive Gad restaurant opposite the airport, draped in Egyptian flags, was invaded after the match by hungry Algerians who ransacked the fridges but attacked no one before Sudanese police threw them out, the manager said.

Khartoum’s major hospitals said they received no injuries or deaths from clashes between fans.

But Egyptian media reports described a very different atmosphere.

Some Egyptian journalists reported near hysterical scenes of their fans under siege by Algerian “militias”, being beaten or stabbed, with armed Algerians chasing Egyptians through the streets and even of deaths.

Khartoum police dismissed the reports. But after some Egyptian media said Sudan had failed to protect its citizens, diplomatic relations between all three countries plummeted.

On Thursday, Egypt recalled its ambassador in Algiers, angered by reports of attacks on Egyptians.

The diplomatic rift split into a chasm after Egyptian ally and match host Sudan summoned Cairo’s ambassador in Khartoum to express a “very strong protest” at Egyptian media reports it said were untrue.

One official said the media was using Sudan as a scapegoat to distract attention from Egypt’s defeat. Egypt had proposed Khartoum as a neutral venue for the decider.

Many fans and Sudanese said they were impressed if somewhat surprised at how organised Khartoum’s security operation was. Fans were bussed out of the stadium at different times and followed separate routes to the airport.

With all the ruckus it was easy to forget about the soccer. The game was rough and technically poor, said fans, but the match was always going to be about emotion rather than technique.

Algerians will now be queueing up for visas to South Africa in the hope that that embassy at least will remain open.

After a decade of rampant destruction of the Mau forest water catchment in western Kenya, the country’s coalition government seems firmly united in trying to save the complex before more serious damage is inflicted on the economy.

U.N. officials say this is no longer simply an environmental issue but something that has huge importance for the whole country. Already two of the top three foreign exchange earners — tourism and tea — are feeling the impact of falling water levels which have also forced the postponement of a major hydro-electric project. 

Prime Minister Raila Odinga describes the forest’s destruction as a national emergency. Both foreign and local officials say there is no gap between Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki on the issue.

Saving the forest will involve huge costs to resettle and compensate some of the thousands of people living illegally there and restore tree cover which produces vital supplies of water. Officials say they expect international donors to provide major financial help.

Until a few months ago, the destruction of the forest was a familiar story of land grabbing, illegal logging and the allocation of government land to try to win votes. It began in 1997 when the government of Daniel arap Moi gave large plots away in exchange for electoral support.

Then, this year, the United Nations flew Odinga and other officials over the forest to show them the extent of the destruction, shocking them into urgent action.

The government is pushing ahead despite the fact that many of the area’s MPs and voters belong to Odinga’s ODM party. Unlike the past, political considerations are being pushed to one side in the national interest. U.N. officials call this process unique for a country long blighted by the depradations of powerful and greedy politicians.

This momentum is all the more striking because Odinga and Kibaki were bitter enemies before and during a bloody political crisis in the first two months of this year when around 1,500 people died in tribally-based clashes following the president’s disputed victory in an election.

Does the Mau forest issue mark a turning point in Kenyan politics or is it a one-off. What do you think?