Togo tragedy should be a lesson for Africa, and Europe

Editor | Tuesday January 12, 2010 00:00

All preparations had been made - infrastructure, flights and accommodation. Investments had been made on re-developing a country otherwise ravaged by war. We do understand that this continent should and must, where possible, use such events as the Cup of Nations to help countries develop their infrastructure by giving them hosting rights to such events. CAF was not completely mistaken in using this logic to grant Angola the hosting rights to the Cup of Nations.

However the lives of players and staff cannot be sacrificed on the altar of some pan-Africanist development agenda. If a country is not safe enough CAF should deny it the hosting of such an important event. This is where Issa Hayatou comes in. He should take responsibility for the Togo fiasco. We hear that CAF was warned about the dangers in Cabinda. How did CAF consider that the threat was worth taking on?

Angola cannot escape responsibility. It is questionable whether Cabinda was ever safe enough to host the games. How did the Angolan authorities come to the conclusion that, a peace accord, only signed three years ago and showing little effect, could keep a region peaceful for the hosting of such an event as this tournament?

Secondly the Togolese authorities, who accompanied the team, should also take time to introspect even as they are going through this trying time. Who took the decision to drive through Cabinda? We have also learnt that there were no proper security arrangements for the team. Whoever was responsible for the security arrangements should bear the brunt of the punishment.

However perhaps this event, more than proves a carelessness on the part of African authorities generally, and shows how paranoid European commentators can be. European commentators, some with a tinge of Afro-pessimism, have crawled out of the wood work to question the security of players in the forthcoming World Cup in South Africa. That SA 2010 chief, Danny Jordaan has had to come out to ally European fears about the SA event shows how feckless European faith in Africa can be. We think Jordaan should have dismissed these fears with the contempt they deserve. An attack in Angola has no relation whatsoever with the South African event. When Paris went aflame with civil unrest during the German World Cup event, no-one ever thought of questioning the safety of players in the German event as a result of the Paris violence. European commentators need to wean themselves of this tendency of deliberately misleading the world on African issues.

                                                  Today's thought
'Mankind's yearning to engage in sports is older than recorded history, dating back to the time millions of years ago, when the first primitive man picked up a crude club and a round rock, tossed the rock into the air, and whomped the club into the sky'
                                                - Dave Barry