Kenya has revealed it will bid for the right to stage the 2016 Olympic Games.
The surprise announcement was made by the country's sports minister Ochilo Ayacko, who insisted: "We are serious in hosting the 2016 games."
No African country has ever staged an Olympics and only four nations outside Europe and North America have ever won the right to do so.
Kenya has four years to prepare its bid because the vote on the host for the 2016 Games will not be made until 2009.
Kenya's pledge surprised International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, who is in Nairobi to mark the 50th anniversary of Kenya joining the Olympic movement.
Rogge said Kenya would have to complete large-scale infrastructure improvements if its bid is to be taken seriously.
He also said a successful bid would require the committment of vast tracts of land the Kenyan government does not currently have available.
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