In sending the cream of Africa's footballing talent to Angola,
African football administrators were at best optimistic, at worst
irresponsibly foolhardy.
But now that the players are there, they should stay - if it
can be made safe for them to do so. Abandoning the Cup of Nations,
the continent's showpiece tournament which was supposed to herald a
banner year for African football, culminating with South Africa
staging the World Cup, would hand a dangerous victory to the
cowardly killers who opened fire on Togo's team.
Three deaths that should and perhaps, with better security,
could have been avoided. The dangers were evident. Both the U.S.
and British governments, among others, had cautioned that Angola's
northern and oil-rich Cabinda province can be unsafe. Armed groups
there who attacked expatriates in 2008 and 2009, raping, robbing
and murdering, had vowed to do so again, the US State Department
warned as recently as November.
As happens too often, sports people have again been held
hostage by politics.
Angola's government wanted the resource-rich country full of
poor people to present a new face to the world. Staging the
football tournament was meant to showcase its recovery from the
civil war which raged for 27 years, killing at least 500,000 people
and driving 4 million others from their homes.
But in Cabinda, whose oil helped finance the civil war, not
everyone laid down their guns. In turning their weapons against the
Togolese team, rebels there have brutally forced the world to take
notice.
Speaking from the safety of exile in Europe, one of their
leaders told anyone who would listen that while they hadn't meant
to shoot the Togolese players, and were instead targeting their
Angolan escorts, "all blows are permitted during war."
Rodrigues Mingas claimed that his group had sent registered
mail months ago to Issa Hayatou, African football's most senior
administrator, warning him of the risks of staging some African cup
events in Cabinda.
"He didn't want to take us seriously," Mingas charged,
speaking on French radio.
If there is even an ounce of truth to that claim, then
Hayatou, his Confederation of African Football which opted to host
the competition in Angola and the Angolan government have much
explaining to do. Refusing to bow to terrorists and their threats
is commendable. Not being fully prepared for such dangers is not.
The Togolese bus was escorted by Angolan soldiers who were
armed to the teeth, the team's French manager and players told
French media. That begs the question of whether the Angolan
military feared that an attack was possible and, if so, whether
other transport and competition arrangements should have been made.
War zones are hardly the best place for the staging of top-class
international sports.
"The soldiers were hooded and heavily armed. Some were even
clutching grenades. Initially, we didn't really understand why so
much force was being deployed for a simple football team," Togo
midfielder Alaixys Romao told French sports daily L'Equipe. "That
was when one of my teammates told us that this place was reputed to
be very dangerous."
Abandoning the tournament, which opened Sunday with a
minute's silence before Angola and Mali played to a 4-4 draw, would
not bring the dead back. But it would be a coup for the rebels and
for all those around the world with grievances and a thirst to
express them through violence. It would tag sports events as soft
and potentially resonant targets, and that could put others at risk
in future.
The temptation to draw parallels between Angola and South
Africa, which will host the World Cup this June and July, should
also be resisted. The Angolan attack does not make a South Africa
World Cup unsafe. They are different countries with different
security problems.
No one would have suggested that the London terror bombings
which killed 52 people in 2005 made Germany a risky host for the
World Cup the following year. The same should now be true for South
Africa. South Africa's sports minister must be given the benefit of
doubt when he says that the World Cup "will be completely secure,"
although visitors should also be conscious that that is a very big
promise to make in these dangerous times and that South Africa's
crime problems are well documented.
The Angolans have pledged redoubled security in the wake of
Friday's attack. They must be good to their word. Should a player
so much as break a fingernail from now on, the world will be
watching.
The Togolese have gone home to bury their dead. Should they
decide at the end of their three days of national mourning that
they want to return to the cup, then everything must be done to
accommodate them, even if that means rearranging the competition
schedule and games.
It is to their honor that the Togolese players were reluctant
to go home - "Those who are dead, those who fell, will they be
happy that we return?" asked their captain, Emmanuel Adebayor - and
that the other teams have decided to stay in Angola, despite their
own concerns about safety.
Against such courage, terror can't win.
John Leicester is an international sports columnist for The
Associated Press. Write to him at jleicester(at)ap.org
