Togo's PM calls attack on national football squad 'a shameful event'

The Prime Minister of Togo, Gilbert Huongbo, says the attack on the national football team, in which three people were killed, was a big loss for his country, and a shameful event for African football.

Mr Huongbo was speaking as he welcomed the team home from the Africa Cup of Nations, two days after they were ambushed on their way to play in Cabinda, Anglola.

For a while it seemed they would stay and compete - the players had reportedly wanted to stay on to play in honour of their murdered colleagues- but the Togolese government ordered them to return home to join three days of national mourning.

Prime Minister Huongbo told the World Today his government decided to withdraw the team for safety reasons:

Despite being geographically separate from the rest of the country, Cabinda was still chosen as one of the four locations for the games.

For years, this oil rich territory has seen violent action by the separatist group Flec (Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda) who have claimed responsibility for the attack.

There have recent successes by Angola's armed forces, but it was well known that the area was dangerous.

Former Angola correspondent Lara Pawson knows Cabinda well and thinks trouble was inevitable.

First broadcast 11 January 2010