Soccer:Togo's involvement in the African Nations Cup is over following their failure to appear for their opening match against Ghana tonight. There had been uncertainty over their intentions since the team returned home from Angola after a gun attack on their team bus which left three people reportedly dead last Friday.
The Confederation of African Football have been largely silent on the matter amid conflicting reports over whether the team would return to Angola.
But an official told reporters this afternoon that if the west African side were not on the pitch come kick-off for their first game, they would be disqualified from the event.
The Togo players failed to take the pitch for their Group B opener, scheduled to kick off at 6.30pm, putting an end to any lingering doubt over their involvement in the tournament.
“The referee has received the order to blow the starting whistle and if the Togolese players are not there, they will have lost the match and will be disqualified,” a CAF official said this afternoon.
Reports had suggested Togo filed a formal request to return after a three-day period of mourning but that was denied by CAF.
The CAF official added: “Togo have not taken official steps to come back and play the African Nations Cup. We have just heard this rumour in the press.”
Togo’s sports minister Christophe Tchao was quoted this morning as saying a formal request had been made but Prime Minister Gilbert Houngbo later denied they intended to re-enter the tournament.
Houngbo told the BBC: “I do believe there is confusion. The information you have got, I’m afraid, might not be the most accurate.
“We have simply withdrawn our team, it is not a matter of withdrawing for the mourning period.
“The information that has been circulated on some websites saying the players are just back for three days’ mourning and will then go back playing is quite wrong.
“We withdrew our team on the basis they have been the victim of a terrorist attack.”
Houngbo has also hit out at the way Togo have been treated by CAF, insisting the decision to withdraw was not made in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, but after support from the tournament organisers proved non-forthcoming.
He added: “Management did not give us enough assurance. We would leave our team being exposed to similar risks. Therefore we decided to pull our team out of the competition against our will.
“We would have hoped that one could have serene discussion with the host country, with the confederation, to assess what has happened, assess what one has to do.
“We received no co-operation from the confederation in terms of any kind of assessment.
“Our analysis is that they want it (the shooting) to be seen as a non-event and the show must go on as planned; there mustn’t be an official change and Togo is causing problems to the festival.”
The Togo team returned to their home country yesterday after apparently agonising over whether to stay in Angola or not.
At first they were reportedly keen to leave but then considered staying on after a team meeting.
In the end, the decision was made for them by their government and Houngbo insisted there was no other option.
He said: “What if something happened again? What is our responsibility? It is a matter of taking seriously the safety of our people.
“It is not my pleasure we withdraw. We don’t want to play into the hands of the terrorists, but we have a responsibility to protect our people.”
Angolan police today announced they had arrested two people in relation to the attack.
Prosecutors in the troubled Cabinda province where the shooting took place said two members of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda forces, or FLEC, were captured yesterday.
FLEC released a statement on Saturday strongly denying any responsibility for the attack which has been claimed by a splinter group of their organisation - Military Position of FLEC (FLEC-MP).
-PA