FLEC rebels who operate in the oil-producing region of Cabinda have attacked atheletes in Angola for the Africa Cup. The reactionary rebels say they will disrupt the pan-african sports event held annually around the continent.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
January 10, 2010
Rebels vow to destroy Africa Cup of Nations
Dan McDougall
Separatist gunmen who killed at least three people in an attack on Togo’s football team at the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola issued a chilling threat of further violence yesterday, in effect warning that some of the world’s most expensive footballers were in their sights.
As more than £100m worth of Premier League talent, including the Chelsea stars Didier Drogba and Michael Essien, prepared to play their opening games in the troubled oil-rich province of Cabinda, the guerrillas claimed that operations to destroy the tournament had only just begun.
The armed wing of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda said it had repeatedly warned the footballing authorities before last Friday’s attack that the territory was at war, and it would now strike again.
“This operation is only the start of a series of targeted actions that will continue in all the territory of Cabinda,” said Rodrigues Mingas, secretary-general of the movement, which has fought for control of the northern enclave and its oil and diamond reserves for more than 40 years.
The attack came on Friday afternoon as the Togo squad and its entourage crossed the heavily militarised border from Congo to prepare for their first match of the tournament, which had been expected to mark Angola’s resurgence after decades of civil war.
Instead, it will be remembered for the attempted massacre in which an Angolan driver and the Togolese assistant coach and press attaché were killed. A goalkeeper was severely injured and six other members of the party were in hospital yesterday with bullet wounds.
It emerged last night that most of the squad, which included Manchester City’s £24m striker Emmanuel Adebayor, had survived the assault only because the balaclava-clad assassins, numbering up to 20, had targeted the first bus in the convoy, carrying the team’s kit and luggage.
Sources in Cabinda suggested that if the team bus had borne the full brunt of the attack, few players would have survived.
The bus had travelled six miles into Angola when it came under fire. “The driver was shot almost immediately and died instantly, so we were just stopped on the road with nowhere to go,” said Moustapha Salifou, the Aston Villa player.
“Our security . . . 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.
“I know I am really lucky. I was in the back of the coach with Emmanuel Adebayor and one of the goalkeepers. A defender in front of me took two shots in the back. The goalkeeper, Obilalé Dodo, one of my best friends, was shot in the chest and stomach area and he’s been flown to South Africa to undergo an operation to save his life.
“It was horrific. Everybody was crying. I couldn’t stay in control myself. I cried when I saw the injuries to my friend. I don’t know how anyone could do this. We were looking forward to playing football and to being together as a team. None of us can play football now.”
Adebayor, who escaped injury, convened a team meeting at which the players were reported to have favoured withdrawal from the cup.
Angolan government sources said last night that Togo would stay in the tournament, but Manchester City said Adebayor was on his way home.
The players had been traumatised, a spokesman said. “Most of the players want to go back to their family. No one can sleep after what they’ve seen. They’ve seen one of their team-mates have a bullet in his body, who is crying, who is losing consciousness. We have all seen death.”
Togo’s government announced that it was summoning the team home. “We could not continue in this dramatic situation,” a minister said.
Togo officials said their Angolan hosts had underestimated the threat to security and should consider calling off the tournament.
“It’s an act of barbarism while we are here to celebrate African hospitality,” said Hubert Velud, the Togo coach. “We don’t feel the authorities are taking this very seriously.”
But tournament officials said Togo’s football team had been told to fly to Cabinda rather than risk a journey by road. “The rules are clear: no team should travel by bus,” said Virgilio Santos, a member of the organising committee.
Some Togo players tried to persuade other footballers to boycott the event. Some were said to be wavering, but the Angolan government insisted the championship would go on. One Angolan minister, Bento Bembe — himself a former Cabinda separatist — said he remained confident that security forces would ensure the safety of the remaining players.
“Cabinda is a province like any other in Angola,” he said. “And the Cup of Nations is positive for Angola. It does not represent a threat. There is no reason not to organise the cup in Cabinda.”
A peace deal was agreed between the government and the separatists in 2006, but resentment of Luanda, the capital, is thought to have been rising in the province. Although Cabinda has gold, gas and uranium deposits as well as oil and diamonds, its people remain poor.
The vast majority of revenues from the 900,000 barrels of oil produced there every day do not benefit the 300,000 inhabitants. They see only 10%.
The attack raised inevitable questions about security at the World Cup, which begins in South Africa in five months.
World Cup organisers described the incident as an isolated act of terror. But Anneli Botha, of South Africa’s Institute for Security Studies, said the gunmen had demonstrated a cheap method of grabbing the global limelight.
“The ease with which these guys operated is a massive wake-up call,” she said.
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