President Paul Kagame has arrived Dakar, the capital of Senegal where he was received by his counterpart President Macky Sall.
Kagame is in Dakar ahead of the launch of Stade du Sénégal which is a 50,000 seater multipurpose Olympic complex intended to host football games and other sports events.
Work at the main venue of the 2026 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Dakar commenced in February 2020, and it is set for opening on February 22.
Senegal’s Sports Minister Matar Bâ revealed that significant plans are in place to mark the unveiling.
“It will be heavy, because it is a big investment,” Bâ said to newsmen. “They have honoured their commitments and the work on the stadium is almost complete.
“Nothing can stand in the way of the inauguration of this beautiful infrastructure.”
Bâ revealed that a number of other notable guests are expected to attend the inauguration.
Diamniadio is situated around 30 kilometres from Senegal’s capital Dakar, and is the subject of a reported $2 billion project to convert it into a new city. A Regional Express railway connecting the two cities was completed in December last year.
The new stadium is due to host events at the delayed Youth Olympic Games in 2026.
The Games were postponed by four years from 2022, with the International Olympic Committee citing the “challenges faced by the organisation, National Olympic Committees and International Federations” after Tokyo 2020 was delayed by a year.
Singapore held the inaugural edition of the Youth Olympics in 2010, with Buenos Aires staging the most recent Summer Games in 2018. Athletes aged 15 to 18 on December 31 in the year of the Games are eligible to compete.
The Diamniadio Olympic Stadium is also expected to host football matches, with Bâ optimistic that it will be able to host Senegal’s crucial FIFA World Cup qualifier against Egypt in March.