Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Two arrested over Togo football attack

Leader warns of further atrocities after gunmen kill three in assault on team bus

John Lichfield
Tuesday 12 January 2010 01:00 GMT
Comments

An Angolan separatist leader threatened further attacks during the African Nations Cup yesterday as officials in Luanda announced that they had arrested two rebels.

The warning followed a machine-gun attack on a bus carrying the Togo national football team in the enclave of Cabinda on Friday, in which two Togolese officials and an Angolan bus driver were killed.

"In war, anything can happen. This is only the beginning," said Rodrigues Mingas, an exiled leader of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC). "Weapons will continue to talk. They will continue to talk because this is a war and because [the African football confederation] is stubbornly going ahead with matches in Cabinda." Mr Mingas claimed that the rebels who attacked the Togo team bus as it made its way from a training camp in the Republic of Congo to a venue in Cabinda City had been aiming at the Angolan security escort. "So it was pure chance that the gunfire hit the players," he said. This conflicted with reports that the bus was machine-gunned from both sides for 15 minutes.

Mr Mingas's statement, made in a telephone interview from Luxembourg with a French radio station, France-Info, angered and embarrassed the French government. The foreign ministry in Paris hinted that action would be taken against Mr Mingas, who is a resident of France.

"Such comments are unacceptable and will have consequences. We condemn them with the greatest vigour," said the foreign ministry spokesman. FLEC president N'Zita Tiago also lives in Paris. In Angola, the government called for an international arrest warrant to be issued for those responsible for the attacks. "We will do all we can to finish them off," said minister Antonio Bento Bembe.

Angolan officials said two separatist rebels had been captured near the scene of Friday's shooting in Cabinda, a detached, oil-rich province north of Angola proper.

The Togo squad were driving into Cabinda to play their first match in the African Nations Cup. At least two people were killed and eight injured.

Three days of mourning were declared in Togo and the squad were recalled at their government's insistence. Before the opening match of the tournament on Sunday – a 4-4 draw between Angola and Mali – Angola's President Jose Eduardo dos Santos insisted that the remaining matches scheduled in Cabinda would be played. "Despite the terrorist attack, Cabinda will remain a hosting city," he said. "There is no need to be afraid."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in