Rwandan international referee Samuel Uwikunda will be at the helm of affairs in the AFCON 2023 Group E qualifying encounter between Madagascar and Central African Republic at the Mahamasina Municipal Stadium in Antananarivo, on Thursday, March 23.

Uwikunda will be the center referee and he will be assisted by fellow countrymen Dieudonné Mutuyimana and Nsoro Ruzindana.

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Uwikunda and Mutuyimana were among the referees selected for the 2023 CHAN tournament held in Algeria in January with the former being assigned centre referee duties while the latter was an assistant referee.

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Uwikunda is carving a niche for himself currently as one of the best emerging young referees in East Africa having also officiated in the 2021 Under 20 AFCON in Mauritania.

Group E of the AFCON qualifiers looks to be a tight one with Ghana and Angola having four points each whereas Madagascar and Central African Republic are tied to one point each before the pair face off.