Togo's government sent a plane Sunday to Angola to bring home its national football team from the violence-marred Africa Cup of Nations, after a rebel attack left at least two dead, the prime minister said. "We are awaiting the Togolese delegation today in Lome," Prime Minister Gilbert Houngbo told journalists.
Togo ordered its footballers home from the Africa Cup of Nations, even though the squad had expressed the desire to stay and take to the pitch in the wake of Friday's deadly militant ambush on their convoy.
Togo football captain Emmanuel Adebayor told a French radio station that although the players wanted to honour the dead by taking to the pitch at the tournament, they would accede to their government's wishes. "We all decided to do something good for the country and play to honour those who died," Manchester City striker Adebayor told RMC radio.
"Unfortunately, the head of state and the country's authorities have decided otherwise. We will pack up and go home." Adebayor said he had spoken directly with Togo President Faure Gnassingbe, a conversation that turned the team's decision.
"That's what made the difference," he said. "It was also our families and loved ones at home who called us. They told us we could continue if we wished but that it is the authorities who have the information." "We are obliged to respect that. The head of state knows what is good for our careers and our lives."
At least two members of the Togolese contingent - one an assistant coach, the other a team spokesman - were killed and nine wounded when hooded gunmen opened fire on Togo's players as they drove into Angola's northern Cabinda enclave from neighbouring Congo-Brazzaville. Separatist rebels in Cabinda have claimed responsibility for the attack.
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