CABINDA - Togo's football team was readying to return home Sunday after a deadly rebel attack on their bus, the coach said, as Africa Cup of Nations organizers made a last-ditch bid to convince them to stay.
"The bus that should bring us to the airport is ready. The players are dressed and ready to leave," coach Hubert Velud told AFP by telephone from their base camp in the northern province of Cabinda.
"For the moment, it looks like we're leaving. But I can only speak in the conditional, because for the last three or four days everything changes every other hour," he said.
Angolan authorities and the Confederation of African Football were said to be in talks with Togolese officials in a last-minute effort to convince the team to stay, with the tournament's opening ceremony in Luanda less than an hour away.
"The three parties were meeting in a hotel in Cabinda," one witness told AFP.
Togo's government has ordered the team to return home, after separatist rebels ambushed their convoy on Friday as it entered the restive province from neighboring Congo-Brazzaville.
At least two members of the Togolese contingent -- an assistant coach and a team spokesman -- were killed and nine wounded when hooded gunmen opened fire on the team bus, sparking a 20 minute gunfight with security forces.
Follow INQUIRER Sports on Facebook.
Monday, January 11, 2010
CAF Condemns attack on togolese team.
LUANDA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Saturday condemned on its website the attack against the Togolese soccer delegation convoy heading to Cabinda from Congo for the final-stage matches of the Cup of African Nations (CAN2010).
Justino Fernandes, Angolan Football Association president who is also the director general of the Local Organizing Committee, briefed the CAF Executive Committee on the incident which took place 10 kilometers within the Angolan territory on Friday.
Gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Togo's national soccer team to Africa's most important tournament, killing the driver and wounding nine people, including two players, press reports said.
The bus had just entered the Angolan region of Cabinda, where separatists have waged a three-decade-long war, when it came under heavy gunfire for several minutes, an official with the Togolese soccer team Winny Dogbatse said.
A separatist group called the Front for the Liberation of Enclave of Cabinda claimed responsibility for the attack, but the claim was immediately rejected by Antonio Bento Bembe, Angola's minister in charge of affairs in Cabinda who said the separatist group no longer existed.
The minister condemned the attack on the Toglese team as an "act of terrorism" carried out by individuals who wanted to cause problems for the government.
abinda is a small oil-rich enclave in the very north of Angola, separated from the rest of the country by a strip of land belonging to Congo. Over half of Angola's oil is produced in Cabinda, but local people claimed the get few benefits from the oil produced on their lands.
Cabinda is one of the four Angolan cities of host the CAN2010 final stage matches.
An important delegation be headed by the Angolan minister on internal affairs, ministers of youth and sports, members from the prime minister's office as well as a powerful delegation from CAF is expected to arrive in Cabinda on Saturday to access the situation after the attack.
The Angolan Prime Minister will meet on Saturday CAF President Mr Issa Hayatou to take decisions to guarantee the smooth running of the CAN 2010 competition, which Angola hoped to stage as a national pride and a showcase of its socio-economic development after the civil war ended in 2002.
Justino Fernandes, Angolan Football Association president who is also the director general of the Local Organizing Committee, briefed the CAF Executive Committee on the incident which took place 10 kilometers within the Angolan territory on Friday.
Gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Togo's national soccer team to Africa's most important tournament, killing the driver and wounding nine people, including two players, press reports said.
The bus had just entered the Angolan region of Cabinda, where separatists have waged a three-decade-long war, when it came under heavy gunfire for several minutes, an official with the Togolese soccer team Winny Dogbatse said.
A separatist group called the Front for the Liberation of Enclave of Cabinda claimed responsibility for the attack, but the claim was immediately rejected by Antonio Bento Bembe, Angola's minister in charge of affairs in Cabinda who said the separatist group no longer existed.
The minister condemned the attack on the Toglese team as an "act of terrorism" carried out by individuals who wanted to cause problems for the government.
abinda is a small oil-rich enclave in the very north of Angola, separated from the rest of the country by a strip of land belonging to Congo. Over half of Angola's oil is produced in Cabinda, but local people claimed the get few benefits from the oil produced on their lands.
Cabinda is one of the four Angolan cities of host the CAN2010 final stage matches.
An important delegation be headed by the Angolan minister on internal affairs, ministers of youth and sports, members from the prime minister's office as well as a powerful delegation from CAF is expected to arrive in Cabinda on Saturday to access the situation after the attack.
The Angolan Prime Minister will meet on Saturday CAF President Mr Issa Hayatou to take decisions to guarantee the smooth running of the CAN 2010 competition, which Angola hoped to stage as a national pride and a showcase of its socio-economic development after the civil war ended in 2002.
Driver killed in Togo players attack
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Driver killed in Togo players attack
Togo’s national team bus was machine-gunned by Angolan rebels on the Congolese border ahead of the African Cup of Nations, leaving the bus driver dead and several players in serious condition, reports say.
The Togolese were training in the Congolese city of Pointe-Noire and were travelling the short distance by bus to Kabinda when they were hit by machine-gun fire.
Three Togo players and the bus driver are reported to have been injured, with the driver dying soon after.
“I am fine, but several players are in a bad way,” Nantes striker Thomas Dossevi told Radio Monte Carlo. “We are still at hospital. We were attacked like dogs and had to hide for 20 minutes under the seats to avoid the bullets.”
Togo were due to get their Cup of Nations campaign underway against Ghana on January 11, but Dossevi said that the team no longer wanted to play at the tournament.
“We don’t feel much like playing the CAN Cup. Our thoughts are with our friends, the injured,” said Dossevi, of French second division side Nantes.
Dossevi named goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale of French amateur side GSI Pontivy and defender Serge Akakpo of Romanian outfit Vaslui as among the injured.
He added: “We had just crossed the border (between Congo and Cabinda, where Togo are to play their Group B matches). We had filled in the border formalities and were surrounded by police.
“Everything was fine. Then there was a powerful burst of gunfire. Everyone dived under the seats and the police fired back. It felt like war had broken out. It's shocking. When we got off the bus we were asking ourselves what was up.”
The rebel group FLEC-PM (Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda-Military Position) have claimed responsibility for the attack, and said more will follow.
Driver killed in Togo players attack
Togo’s national team bus was machine-gunned by Angolan rebels on the Congolese border ahead of the African Cup of Nations, leaving the bus driver dead and several players in serious condition, reports say.
The Togolese were training in the Congolese city of Pointe-Noire and were travelling the short distance by bus to Kabinda when they were hit by machine-gun fire.
Three Togo players and the bus driver are reported to have been injured, with the driver dying soon after.
“I am fine, but several players are in a bad way,” Nantes striker Thomas Dossevi told Radio Monte Carlo. “We are still at hospital. We were attacked like dogs and had to hide for 20 minutes under the seats to avoid the bullets.”
Togo were due to get their Cup of Nations campaign underway against Ghana on January 11, but Dossevi said that the team no longer wanted to play at the tournament.
“We don’t feel much like playing the CAN Cup. Our thoughts are with our friends, the injured,” said Dossevi, of French second division side Nantes.
Dossevi named goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale of French amateur side GSI Pontivy and defender Serge Akakpo of Romanian outfit Vaslui as among the injured.
He added: “We had just crossed the border (between Congo and Cabinda, where Togo are to play their Group B matches). We had filled in the border formalities and were surrounded by police.
“Everything was fine. Then there was a powerful burst of gunfire. Everyone dived under the seats and the police fired back. It felt like war had broken out. It's shocking. When we got off the bus we were asking ourselves what was up.”
The rebel group FLEC-PM (Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda-Military Position) have claimed responsibility for the attack, and said more will follow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)