By Mohammed Fajah Barrie BBC Sport Online, Bouake

I was about to depart for Abidjan last Thursday when the two receptionists in my hotel told me I could not leave Bouake.

A military uprising was going on and it would be dangerous to travel.

Unable to leave the hotel environs, amidst the shooting in the town, I was resigned to staying in my first floor hotel room.

But all hell broke loose when the mutineers came to our hotel and kidnapped the Ivorian sports minister.

Being Sierra Leonean, war and civil strife are no strangers to my dictionary, but the incident made me realise that I was in the middle of a very bad situation.

And the footballers from Senegal, Gambia and Sierra Leone share my feelings.

All they are concerned about is when we would be able to leave for home but the answer is shrouded in uncertainty.

We have very little food left and the situation worsens as the days go by.

Despite the rationing of food by the hotel authorities, it can only last for so long.

We had a piece of bread this morning, some rice in the afternoon and if we're lucky, we will have some rice for dinner.

The water situation is a lot worse, as all taps in the town are locked.

We have not had fresh supplies of water in the last four days, which has forced us to use the water in the hotel pool for drinking and personal hygiene.

One thing that has kept us all sane is the working telephone.

The 'hotline,' as I call it, keeps me in touch with the newsroom in London - ever keen for updates on the situation - as well as friends and relatives anxious about our situation.

But with so many people desperate to talk to their worried families back home, each person can only talk for a few minutes at a time.

With what I have seen and heard in Bouake, I can hardly forget my ordeal in the Ivory Coast.

I had looked forward to covering an exciting West African football tournament but have got more than I ever bargained for.