A Togolese minister said the government had decided to pull the national team out of the tournament because of “this dramatic situation” — shortly after an Angolan government source said Togo’s team had agreed to take part.
Friday’s attack, in which the driver was also killed and seven others were wounded, took place in the province of Cabinda. It was claimed by the FLEC, a rebel group that has been fighting for secession sporadically for decades.
Togolese officials named the dead men as media officer Stanislas Ocloo and assistant coach Amalete Abalo, and said reserve goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale had been evacuated to Johannesburg for medical treatment.
A South African medical source said Obilale was rushed to Milpark hospital in Johannesburg in serious condition.
“The Togolese government has decided to call back the team. We could not continue the African Nations Cup in this dramatic situation,” Territorial Administration Minister Pascal Bodjona said in a statement issued in the capital Lome.
“This was necessary because our players are in a state of shock and because we do not think the security which should have been placed around our players is giving the necessary guarantees.”
Less than an hour earlier, an Angolan government source involved in organising the three-week competition told Reuters: “Togo has agreed to remain in the competition.”
Confederation of African Football (CAF) officials met the Togo delegation in the Olympic village in Cabinda, where all the teams are staying, and left without commenting.
Togolese midfielder Thomas Dossevi told reporters: “We want the start of the competition to be delayed so that we have time to bring our dead people home.”
But Togo’s captain and star striker Emmanuel Adebayor, who escaped the attack unharmed, was already flying home, his English club Manchester City said.
BUS TRAVEL BANNED
The team bus, travelling from its training ground in the Congo Republic, had just entered Cabinda, geographically cut off from the rest of Angola, on Friday when it came under fire.
“I know I am really lucky,” said midfielder Moustapha Salifou. “A defender who was sat in front of me took two shots in the back …
“Our security people saved us … They were in two separate cars, about 10 of them in total, and they returned fire. The shooting lasted for half an hour and I could hear the bullets whistling past me. It was like a movie.”
Virgilio Santos, an official with the African Nations Cup local organising committee COCAN, said teams had been told explicitly not to travel to the tournament by road.
“We asked that all delegations inform us when they would arrive and provide the passport number of their players,” he told the sports weekly A Bola.
“Togo was the only team not to respond and did not inform COCAN it was coming by bus … The rules are clear: No team should travel by bus. I don’t know what led them to do this.”
Adebayor said the attack would hurt Africa as a whole.
“We keep repeating (that) — Africa, we have to change our image if we want to be respected — and unfortunately that is not happening,” he told the BBC World Service.
Organisers said on Friday the tournament, which will feature some of the world’s most valuable players, would start as planned today.
Some Togolese players were already reluctant to take part. “No one (in the team) wants to play,” Salifou was quoted as saying by his English club, Aston Villa. “We just want to go home … We can’t play in these circumstances and we want to leave for home today.”
BLOW FOR AFRICA
Cabinda, the scene of FLEC attacks even after Angola’s 27-year civil war ended in 2002, provides half the oil output of Angola, which rivals Nigeria as Africa’s biggest producer.
Friday’s attack came five months before South Africa hosts the World Cup, the first African nation to hold the world’s biggest single-sport event.
Chief World Cup organiser Danny Jordaan said the attack “has no impact on our World Cup”.
“It is nonsensical for South Africa to be tainted with what happens in Angola, which is not even one of our neighbouring countries,” he said.
Former Togo coach Otto Pfister said the assault would cast a shadow over the World Cup. “This is a real blow for Africa. It will obviously be linked directly with the World Cup,” he told German sports news agency SID. “It will give critics a boost.”
South Africa has spent at least 13 billion rand ($1.7 billion) on new stadiums and infrastructure for the World Cup.
South African President Jacob Zuma will attend Sunday’s opening ceremony despite the attack, his spokesman said.
African champions Egypt and Nigeria both demanded increased security for their teams.
But there was no official suggestion that matches would be pulled from Cabinda, wedged between the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo and due to host seven matches.
The first games in Cabinda are due to be played on Monday, with Togo taking on Ghana and Ivory Coast facing Burkina Faso.
Ivory Coast general manager Kaba Kone told reporters: “We have not considered leaving the tournament. Organisers and CAF must improve safety. The party is not ruined, we can still have a great party if safety is guaranteed.”
The FLEC was not thought to be a serious risk in Cabinda, despite claiming to have kidnapped a Chinese oil worker and killed government soldiers last year.
In December, Angolan minister without portfolio Antonio Bento Bembe, a former FLEC leader, dismissed the claims and said the group no longer existed.
