African Nations Cup: Togo team attacked!

[Ah Guan]

Togo team bus in gun attack

Nine thought to be injured as Togo bus is attacked

The Togo national team came under attack from gunfire in Angola when their bus was ambushed, with their driver killed and as many as nine others thought to have been wounded.
The Sparrow Hawks are in the country ahead of the African Cup of Nations which gets under way on Sunday, with Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor

and Aston Villa's Moustapha Salifou

amongst the travelling party. Both escaped uninjured.
Those less fortunate included two footballers from the West African nation, with Togolese football federation vice-president Gabriel Ameyi having said back-up goalkeeper Obilale Kossi and central defender Serge Akakpo were among those hurt.
Romanian side FC Vaslui confirmed their defender Akakpo, who joined the club from French side Auxerre last year, was shot and badly injured in the attack.
The club said, though, the 22-year-old was out of danger after being treated by doctors.
A statement on the club's website read: "Badly injured in an ambush in Angola, Serge Akakpo is now out of danger.
"Akakpo was struck by two bullets in the attack and has lost much blood. His condition was stabilised by doctors.
"FC Vaslui have been in touch with relatives of the player, who confirmed he has undergone surgery, which went very well."
Shaken

Aston Villa have also confirmed that their 26-year-old midfielder Salifou was "shaken but okay" following the attack.
A statement posted on City's official website read: "Manchester City can confirm that striker Emmanuel Adebayor is uninjured after this afternoon's attack on the Togo team bus in Angola.
"Club officials have spoken with Adebayor and though shaken by the terrible events, he is unharmed."
Togo are scheduled to begin their cup campaign against Ghana on Monday, but their participation in the tournament now looks in serious doubt.
Togo and Nantes striker Thomas Dossevi

told French radio station RMC: "I'm okay but several players are in a bad state.
"We are still at hospital. We were machine-gunned like dogs and had to remain hidden under our seats for around 20 minutes to avoid the bullets."
Midfielder Alaixys Romao admits the players feared the worst and thinks Togo are now likely to pull out of the tournament.
"We're not thinking yet of what could happen," said Romao, who plays his club football for Grenoble.
"But it's true that no-one wants to play. We're not capable of it.
"We're thinking first of all about the health of our injured because there was a lot of blood on the ground.
"For the moment there is not much news because they have been taken to different hospitals.
"In cases like these we're thinking of those near us, of those we love because that really could have been the end of us."
Midfielder Richmond Forson believes the number of injuries could have been much worse had the gunmen not originally fired on the wrong bus.
"It was the bus carrying our baggage which was in front of us which they fired on the most," he told Canal Plus. "They thought we were in the bus in front.
"Fortunately for us. That's what saved us. Then they fired on our driver and those who were in front. The windscreen was shattered by the first bullets.
"It's disgusting to take bullets for a football match."

Horrifying

Dossevi later gave more details about the attack. He added: "We had just crossed the border five minutes before, we were surrounded by police buses, one in front of us another behind.
"Everything was fine and then there was a powerful burst of gunfire.
"Everyone threw themselves under the seats and tried to protect themselves but some couldn't escape the bullets.
"It lasted a good 15 minutes, the police fired back but really, it was hard to handle and it still is now. I'm shocked.
"When we got off the bus we were asking ourselves why us and not others? We were asking ourselves what had happened, we were crying and thanking God."

 

[Ah Guan]

Africa is still a shithole

Let's see how the African football body (CAF) handles this crisis with World Cup only less than 7 months away

 

[singveld]

who cares ? we cant watch world cup anyway.

 

[cocobobo]

must be arsenal fans

 

[Ah Guan]

must be arsenal fans

Hahahahahahahahaa

 

[SamuelStalin]

Togo actually means no go?

 

[Ah Guan]

Togo football team were attacked by mistake, Angolan rebels say

Separatist leader says gunmen meant to shoot the Angolan troops escorting side to Africa Cup of Nations

A senior official of the dissident group that launched a fatal ambush on the Togo football team has expressed his "condolences", saying rebels attacked their bus by mistake.

Rodrigues Mingas, the secretary general of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (Flec), said his fighters had meant to attack security guards as the convoy passed through the Angolan province of Cabinda, which sits wholly inside Congo.

Today, Angolan state media reported two arrests in connection with Friday's attack, which came as the Togo team travelled to the Africa Cup of Nations.

Three people were killed – the team's assistant coach, its official spokesman and the bus driver.

"This attack was not aimed at the Togolese players but at the Angolan forces at the head of the convoy," Mingas told France 24 television.

"So it was pure chance that the gunfire hit the players. We don't have anything to do with the Togolese and we present our condolences to the African families and the Togo government. We are fighting for the total liberation of Cabinda."




The provincial prosecutor, Antonio Nito, said the two people arrested belonged to Flec, which has fought for three decades against the Angolan government and claimed responsibility for the attack.
"The two elements of Flec were captured at the scene of the incident, the road to Massabi that connects both countries [Angola and Congo]," he said in a statement published on the state-owned news agency Angop. No other details were immediately available.
Eight were wounded during the ambush including a goalkeeper, Kodjovi Dodji Obilalé, who was airlifted to South Africa. He is said to be in a stable condition in intensive care.
Togo's players reluctantly left Angola late yesterday for three days of mourning. They had said they wanted to compete in the tournament to honour the dead, but their government dispatched the presidential plane after saying it was not safe to stay.
Togo's prime minister, Gilbert Houngbo, said Angola had not done enough to protect the team after the attack.
Thomas Dossevi, a team forward, said: "We fully understand our government's decision to leave because they didn't receive enough guarantees for our security. We as players, we wanted to stay to honour the memory of our dead people, but both positions are understandable."
The opening ceremony of Africa's most famous football tournament went ahead yesterday. Among the VIPs attending was Jacob Zuma, the South African president, intent on expressing his support for Angola – and African football – as organisers of Africa's first World Cup came out fighting against attempts to conflate the Angolan instability with preparations in South Africa.
The organisers warned against negative stereotyping of the entire continent – raising the issue of "Afro-pessimism".
Through a spokesman Zuma dismissed ­speculation that the incident raised ­questions over security for the World Cup in South Africa five months from now.
Sajjan Gohel, the international security director of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, a London-based thinktank, said many ­people had been looking to the Angola tournament as a litmus test for the World Cup. "Although it is not in South Africa it is in southern Africa, so I suppose many people were looking at it in a similar light," he said.
But Danny Jordaan, the chief World Cup organiser in South Africa, said: "I don't think the world has ever asked one country to take responsibility for what happens in another country. Fortunately the majority of the world is not influenced by a warped understanding of the African continent. If there is a war in Kosovo and a World Cup in Germany no one asks if the World Cup can go on in Germany, everyone understands the war in Kosovo is a war in Kosovo."
As supporters entered the national stadium in Luanda they expressed their determination for the tournament to be a success and expressed little fear, despite a pledge by Flec to carry out more attacks.
"It's the first time that we've organised the Africa Cup of Nations and we're here to celebrate," said 30-year-old André Fernandes. "It's going to be great to see the African stars. We've got Angolans who play in Europe, but some of the big names in world football are going to be here."
Flec said the ambush was the first in a planned wave of terrorist strikes. Issa Hayatou, the president of the Confederation of African football, said the Angolan prime minister, Antonio Paulo Kassoma, had promised increased security at all venues.
The Togo team, travelling by coach from their training ground in Congo-Brazzaville, had just entered Cabinda when they came under heavy fire. Another bus, carrying equipment, was sprayed with bullets.
Cabinda is responsible for half of Angola's oil production.
Before the attack Flec was not thought to be a serious risk. Last month an Angolan minister without portfolio, António Bento Bembe, who is a former Flec fighter, said the group no longer existed. He claimed all that remained of Flec was a few individuals who were trying to attract unhappy Cabindans with false statements.

 

[Ah Guan]

Stupid nigger rebels scored an own goal

Now everyone in their own country will want them dead