Togo goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale has reportedly died from
gunshot wounds sustained in an ambush on the team bus in Angola,
bringing the death toll from the attack to four.
Two members of Togo's national team delegation and a driver also
died following an ambush on the team's bus as it travelled to the
African Cup of Nations.
Striker Jonathan Ayite told RMC radio: "Yes, he is dead, as well as
our assistant coach (Amalete Abalo) and our press officer
(Stanislas Ocloo). All three are dead."
Friday's attack, in which seven others were injured, took place in
Cabinda, a province where guerrillas have fought a secession
campaign for decades.
"We lost the assistant coach and the press officer," said Messan
Attelou, chief spokesman for Togo's federation.
He said Togo had not yet decided whether to pull out of the
tournament.
"We are going now to see and talk to the players and then make a
decision whether or not we take part in the competition," he told
Reuters at Cabinda airport.
However, captain Emmanuel Adebayor's club Manchester City
said the striker had already returned home and Togo had withdrawn -
a scenario that appears inevitable even if it has not been
officially announced.
The attack came five months before neighbouring South Africa hosts
the World Cup, the first African nation to hold the world's biggest
single sport event.
Virgilio Santos, an official with the African Cup of Nations 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."
The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda
claimed responsibility for the attack.
Cabinda, the scene of attacks by separatists even after Angola's
27-year civil war ended in 2002, is responsible for half of oil
production in Angola, which rivals Nigeria as Africa's biggest
producer.
The Togo team bus, travelling from its training ground in the
Republic of Congo, had just entered the enclave, geographically cut
off from the rest of Angola, when it came under heavy
gunfire.
A crisis meeting was expected to take place in the Angolan capital
Luanda between local officials and the Confederation of African
Football over tournament security.
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 now," he told the German sports news
agency SID.
"And it will give the critics a boost."
South Africa has spent at least 13 billion rand (£1.2bn) on new
stadiums and infrastructure for the World Cup.
Rich Mkhondo, chief spokesman for the World Cup organising
committee, said the attack had no relevance to the World Cup.
"We remain confident that everyone coming to South Africa will have
a safe and secure experience in our country," he said.
South African President Jacob Zuma will attend Sunday's opening
ceremony despite the attack, his spokesman said.
CAF has said the Nations Cup, which ends on January 31, will go
ahead and the Angolan government said all teams would still take
part.
There has been no official suggestion that matches will 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 said: "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. We did not come here to play with death but to play
football."
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.
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