Obama's Kenyan grandmother in conversion row

US President Barack Obama's Kenyan grandmother is the centre of a row between Muslims and Christians of the country, with a council of Imams accusing the Church of forcibly trying to convert her.

Sarah Obama, 87, was reported to have been stopped from going to an Adventist Church by Muslims because they thought the church would try to convert her, the Telegraph said on Saturday.

Muslims held protests in Kenya about the alleged conversion and warned of conflict between the faiths over it.

However, the church claimed that Obama was invited to attend a meeting and that it had no intention to convert her.

"We had invited her to grace our meeting in Kisumu which was to mark the end of a three-week convention, but although she had prepared, she did not attend," Lewis Ondiek, a senior church figure was quoted as saying.

Obama's family, meanwhile, said she did not attend because of a knee injury.

"Mama Sarah should not be forced by anybody to join Christianity since she is a Muslim," said Sheikh Mohamed Khalifa of the Council of Imams.

Sarah's son, Saidi Obama, meanwhile, said: "this is not true, she was not to be converted. She was to attend as a VIP".

Obama is the son of a Kenyan father and an American mother. His parents split up when he was two and his father returned to Africa.