Hosting the African Cup of Nations was Angola's chance to show it
was recovering from decades of war. But gunmen sprayed bullets at
Togo, killing three people and making the team return home before
playing any football.
Africa's football championship was expected to open as
planned on Sunday, even though other teams were shocked and worried
by the ambush of the Togo bus as it entered Angola's restive
oil-rich Cabinda province.
"We have goose bumps ... who knows what is going to happen to
us," Amade Chababe, Mozambique assistant coach, told AP Television
News when the squad passed through Johannesburg en route to Angola
on Saturday.
The attack killed an assistant coach, a team spokesperson,
and the Angolan bus driver, according to the team and Togo
government. Angola Information Minister Manuel Rabelais said on
Friday eight team members and one Angolan were injured.
"Despite this, the championship will go on," Angola's Sports
Minister Goncalves Muandumba said.
In Togo's capital, Lome, Togo government spokesman Pascal
Bodjona said it was difficult to understand why Angolan authorities
chose Cabinda for group matches when it knew "the area was a
dangerous and risky zone."
Bodjona said nobody informed Togo that it was hazardous to
travel by road to Cabinda.
He also demanded an apology from the Angola government and
African Cup organizers.
Togo forward Thomas Dossevi told The Associated Press in a
phone interview that it will pull out of the tournament and fly out
of Angola early Sunday.
In South Africa, the local organizing committee of the World
Cup said the attack had no relevance to the football showcase
starting in June. Spokesman Rich Mkhondo said organizers viewed
Friday's attack as an isolated incident.
"We wish to state that there is no link between what happened
in Angola and South Africa's preparations to host the 2010 FIFA
World Cup," Mkhondo said. "We also cannot compare organization and
security in Angola with South Africa just because the two countries
happen to be in the same region in the world."
FIFA president Sepp Blatter expressed his support for African
football, and offered FIFA's backing to the Confederation of
African Football in a letter on Saturday to its president Issa
Hayatou.
Blatter said he looked forward with confidence to FIFA and
CAF organizing the World Cup.
Unrest associated with Cabinda, a northern enclave cut off
from the rest of Angola by a strip of Congo, has been at low
levels. The main separatist group is the Front for the Liberation
of the Enclave of Cabinda, or FLEC. The Angolan information
minister blamed the group for the attack.
Portugal's state-run Lusa news agency said FLEC claimed
responsibility in a message on Friday. In a statement e-mailed to
The Associated Press on Saturday, the civilian arm of the
separatist group did not claim responsibility for what it called an
"unfortunate incident," but said it was irresponsible of organizers
to have ignored warnings from separatists that matches should not
be held in Cabinda.
Togo captain Emmanuel Adebayor said that soon after their
convoy entered Cabinda, "from nowhere gunmen began to open fire on
our bus."
He said the gunfire lasted 30 minutes before Angolan soldiers
repulsed the assailants.
Togo goalkeeper Kossi Agassa told France-Info radio that a
Togo assistant coach and a spokesperson died and that a second
goalkeeper was badly wounded. Kodjovi "Dodji" Obilale, the injured
goalkeeper who also plays for French club Pontivy, was flown to
South Africa where he underwent surgery for injuries to his back,
said club president Philippe Le Mestre by telephone from western
France.
Richard Friedland, CEO of Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg,
told reporters that Obilale suffered two gunshot wounds to the
lower back and will undergo surgery late Saturday.
"He is fully receptive. He understands where he is,"
Friedland said.
Ivory Coast general manager Kaba Kone told The Associated
Press on Saturday that his team was "shocked and are living through
very hard times" but weren't considered pulling out. He said the
Ivorian players visited Togo late Friday to express their sympathy.
Kone said CAF and tournament organizers were stepping up
security measures to guarantee safety in Cabinda.
"This event can still be a big party," he said.
Associated Press writers Rob Harris in London, Jamey Keaten in
Paris, and Ebow Godwin in Togo contributed to this report.
