Togo left high and dry by African Cup organisers

It's official. Togo have been disqualified from the African Cup of Nations after failing to fulfill their Monday night fixture against Ghana, following Friday's terrorist attack on the two Togo team buses that left three people dead and several players wounded.

As The First Post reported yesterday, the devastated team flew back to Togo on Sunday on the orders of their prime minister, Gilbert Huongbo. Rumours began to emanate on Monday from the office of Togo's sports minister, Christophe Tchao, that the players would be able to return to Angola to compete in the tournament once a three-day period of mourning had been observed.

Those rumours were quickly quashed by Huongbo: "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," he said.

Huongbo then revealed that his government had demanded the withdrawal of the national team – against the wishes of many of the players who wished to remain in Angola to honour the memory of the dead and wounded – because the Confederation of African Football [CAF] failed to convince him that security surrounding the Togo squad would be increased if they stayed.

"Management did not give us enough assurance," explained Huongbo. "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 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."

In a candid interview with French sports daily L'Equipe, Togo's Alaixys Romao, who plays for Grenoble in the French first division, claimed that the organisers had shown contempt for Togo by insisting the tournament continue and that "if it had been Ivory Coast or Cameroon, or if [Samuel] Eto'o or Drogba had taken a bullet, the competition would have been stopped immediately".

Romao went on to say that Chelsea star Didier Drogba, the Ivory Coast captain, had told Emmanuel Adebayor, the Togo and fellow Premier League player, that he "was not ready to play in this African Nations Cup." Reports suggest that Drogba wasn't alone among the Ivory Coast squad in wanting to leave Angola but the side came under intense pressure from the CAF.

Shortly before Ivory Coast were held to a goalless draw by Burkina Faso on Monday evening, Drogba was quoted as saying: "I have spoken with Adebayor and it was a difficult situation for them. We have to show solidarity with them, though, and support the decision they have taken. The events have left us shattered but we have to let sport unite us all now."

On a day of high drama, Angolan police announced they had arrested two members of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda [Flec], the group that claimed responsibility for the murderous attack on the Togo team buses.

Later the terrorists' secretary general, Rodrigues Mingas, told a French television station that he regretted the assault: "This attack was not aimed at the Togolese players but at the Angolan forces at the head of the convoy," he said in the interview. "So it was pure chance that the gunfire hit the players. We don't have anything to do with the Togolese and we present our condolences to the African families and the Togo Government. We are fighting for the total liberation of Cabinda."

Meanwhile other French media sources are reporting that CAF is considering bringing charges against Togo for withdrawing from the tournament. Any decision, which would be highly controversial, will be made at the end of the month. But sanctions are a possibility, according to an anonymous member of CAF. ·