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Every African was angry at Angola, pissed off at those shooters and furious at CAF upon hearing for the first time that Togo had been attacked in Cabinda.
Many of us cursed the word Africa. Africa this, Africa that. For four days I went through the emotions. It was a weekend and I had to rely on BBC and CNN them. They were calling FLEC a terrorist group, one news-anchor even tried to link with Al Qaeda. I still wanted Togo to stay in Angola. I think most Africans did. The Western press did not want them to stay. Some even wanted the AFCON to be called off. And that hurt me. In Africa we don’t have terrorists, we have rebels and guerrillas, so what were these Western media talking about? Analysts across the Western world, most of whom think Africa is in South Africa, spoke negatively about Angola and how unsafe it is. In fact, if you recall well, most Western press up to now still think Togo was driving from DRC, yet it was Congo Brazzaville. They linked the whole thing to the World Cup as well. I refuse unlike some commentators on Supersport to replace my education of African sport and politics through editorial comments from CNN or BBC and their cousins. I don’t want to suffer from that illness. To say Africa is bad, to me is replacing our own language through editorial comments because that is how they call us, “Dark and Backward”, in their bars and hair saloons. Of course, we do not condone what happened in Cabinda but as Africans we also show solidarity with each other. This year is ours. We must show this Western society. Especially British media. Some wrote how Drogba wanted to leave Angola another headline in The Daily Sun read: ‘Essien flies into the Death Zone.’ It is only the English Premiership which is against the Nations Cup taking place in January because they want our players. So when Togo was hit, they ululated. Is it not the same white people who talk about putting body and soul on the line for their countries? The Togolese government should have let the players stay. No one is safe anywhere. The most unsafe place today is the USA. By 2012 Britain will also be very unsafe because of their fear for terrorist attacks before major events. Lets see if Togo athletes won’t go to the 2012 Olympics. AFCON 2010 is the only tournament without club versus country rows because our players from Europe now know where they will be buried, not what bread they eat, which is African. The Togolese government by withdrawing the team gave victory to the rebels and the West and showed cowardice. RIP to the three that fell in that shooting but Togo is a biennial football problem child. When Togo qualified for the 2006World Cup they fired coach Stephen Keshi at the AFCON 2006, replacing him with Otto Pfister who resigned three days before the ‘06 World Cup over players’ bonuses dispute, only to be persuaded by players to return. Pfister did not last beyond the World Cup and Togo stayed without a coach till February 2007 when they recalled Keshi days before a friendly against Cameroon. At that World Cup ‘06, Togolese player Khaled el Nady, who was also in that bus on Friday, was caught stealing someone’s else contract and trying to make it his own. He was sent home. FIFA fined Togo for nearly failing to play a World Cup match against Switzerland. During the 2008 AFCON qualifiers, was it not the Togo plane carrying Minister of Sports, Football Federation officials and other VIPs, which crashed killing everyone there? No one has answered why Togo drove by bus to Cabinda, to cut costs. CAF rules are clear in French and in English that teams should fly to their bases if going to the AFCON, anything else will be at their own risk. So Togo took the risk by driving, and they want everyone to pay for it. CAF should fine Togo for breaching security by driving. Togolese government recalled the team because they wanted CAF to compensate for the shooting, thus giving blame to CAF. But CAF did nothing wrong, they merely gave Team Escort as required, it was Togo who broke the rules. And CAF or Angola must not pay! Togo should.
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PS// I’m Cameroon, by the way |