Togo's government wants an apology from Angola and African Cup of
Nations organizers for sending its football team into unruly
Cabinda, where gunmen killed two of the team and the bus driver.
A day after Togo's bus was machine-gunned soon after crossing
from Congo into Angola, Togo government spokesman Pascal Bodjona
said from the capital Lome on Saturday that it was difficult to
understand why Angolan authorities chose Cabinda to host African
Cup 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 officials.
The ambush killed a Togo assistant coach, a team
spokesperson, and the Angolan bus driver, according to the team and
Togo government. At least two players had gunshot wounds.
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.
"Despite this, the championship will go on," Angola's Sports
Minister Goncalves Muandumba said.
Unrest associated with Cabinda, a northern enclave cut off
from the rest of Angola by a strip of Congo, had been at low
levels. The main separatist group was 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.
Confederation of African Football president Issa Hayatou said
he received guarantees from Angola Prime Minister Antonio Paulo
Kassoma on Saturday that security will be increased at all venues,
at the request of all teams.
Following that meeting, Hayatou and most of the CAF
leadership flew to Cabinda and agreed with Angolan officials to
play all scheduled matches there.
Then they met with all the teams based in Cabinda: Togo,
Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Ghana.
"In case you decide to leave the competition," Hayatou told
Togo, "we will definitely understand your decision and it will be
accepted. It is a difficult choice - individual and collective -
and you are the only ones who can decide."
Though Africa's football championship will open as planned on
Sunday, other teams remained shocked and worried by the ambush.
"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.
Ivory Coast was "shocked and are living through very hard
times" but not considering pulling out, general manager Kaba Kone
told The Associated Press.
He said the Ivorian players visited Togo late Friday to
express their sympathy.
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 CAF in a letter on Saturday
to Hayatou.
Blatter said he looked forward with confidence to FIFA and
CAF organizing the World Cup.
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.
Associated Press writers Rob Harris in London, Jamey Keaten in
Paris, and Ebow Godwin in Togo contributed to this report.
