By Osasu Obayiuwana BBC Sport

Kenya risk a two-year ban from international competition

Kenya is on the verge of suspension from international football if the government does not allow the country's football federation to run the sport's affairs.

A ban from world football's governing body Fifa from 1 June would mean that the Harambee Stars, Kenya's national team, would be ineligible to participate in the group stage of the 2006 World Cup and African Cup of Nations qualifiers starting next month.

Sources close to the situation told BBC Sport that the government must allow the Kenyan Football Federation (KFF) to run the sport without interference, as provided by Fifa regulations.

"A ban from international football is not something that we want to impose because it is the innocent Kenyan fans and footballers that will suffer.

"But Fifa has rules that all nations wishing to play international football must adhere to.

"We cannot allow the current situation to continue. But it is up to the Kenyans to resolve this matter by the deadline we have imposed," the source said.

Elections for a new KFF executive board, scheduled for 10 April, were unable to take place after a High Court granted an injunction stopping them.

Blatter has written to members of Fifa's emergency committee

Fifa had sent Malta's Joseph Mifsud and Egyptian Taha Ismail to monitor the proposed elections but they cut short their trip after the court order.

Their planned meeting with Kenyan sports minister Najib Balala also failed to hold, as the minister's aides claimed he was out of the country.

Despite Fifa's ruling that the current KFF board, headed by Maina Kariuki, is the legitimate authority for Kenyan football, the government continues to back a rival transitional committee.

Members of Fifa's seven-man emergency committee, briefed by president Sepp Blatter on the Kenyan impasse, have been asked to give legal backing to the proposed sanction by 31 May.