South African World Cup organizers said on Saturday that the fatal bus attack on the Togo team at the African Nations Cup in Angola should not impact on the tournament in South Africa later this year. At least two people are reported having been died and several more were injured when gunmen opened fire on the Togo team bus on Friday.
Rich Mkhondo, media manager for World Cup 2010 organizers, said the incident would not impact preparations for the 32-team World Cup tournament that begins June 11.
To suggest otherwise, Mkhondo said, would be like saying that such an incident in the Czech Republic, for example, would have an impact on an event in Britain.
A video grab from Angolan TV shows Emmanuel Adebayor (R) of Manchester City being comforted outside a hospital in Cabinda January 8, 2010, in this video grab obtained from Angolan TV January 9, 2010.
South African football authorities have described the attack on the Togo team on the eve of the African Cup of Nations as terrorism. Several Togolese footballers were injured, some seriously, when their team bus was fired on with machine guns as they traveled through the politically unstable Cabinda region bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday.
An unidentified man is moved to a hospital in Cabinda January 8, 2010, in this video grab obtained from Angolan TV January 9, 2010. Gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Togo's national soccer squad to the top African tournament in Angola on Friday, killing the driver and wounding nine others, including two players, a Togo team official said. The bus had just entered the Angolan enclave of Cabinda, where separatists have waged a three-decade long war, when it came under heavy gunfire for several minutes, the official said
Mkondo said the incident was regrettable and it was terrorism. "To us, football is entertainment and terrorism stinks," Mkondo told South Africa's Talk Radio 702 station on Saturday.
South Africa hosts the FIFA World Cup in June. South African authorities have given repeated assurances about safety during the World Cup.