Togo tragedy should be a lesson for Africa, and Europe

On Friday as Africa and the world was expecting to see one of the continent's showpiece sporting events, the Africa Cup of Nations taking off in Angola, something tragic happened -the Togolese national team was shot at by separatist rebels in the Cabinda region of Angola.

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?

Editor's Comment
Congratulations Anicia Gaothuse!

The contest had 10 beautiful young girls as finalists and unfortunately only one could wear the crown.The judges picked Anicia Gaothuse. To all those who feel their contestant should have won ahead of Anicia for whatever reason, hardly; the judges found Anicia to be the best among the best, so desist from disrespecting our newly crowned queen on social media or anywhere else, for that matter! Each of the 10 beautiful young women had supporters...

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