Luanda

Algeria and Egypt set for turf war

There will be no football played in Benguela tonight.

After Ghana and Nigeria finish kicking a ball around a pitch in Luanda, attentions will turn away from the Angolan capital to more weighty affairs in the south.

Because Algeria are not taking on Egypt for a place in the Africa Cup of Nations final.

The two are meeting in the theatre of combat.

The fight to dethrone King Cholera

In 1858, Punch magazine published a cartoon showing the figure of Death rowing along the River Thames in London, claiming the lives of cholera victims.

King Cholera no longer has a court in the English capital. But here in Luanda, an overnight thunderstorm heralded his coming as the streets were turned into a muddy quagmire.

"Streets" is something of a strong word to describe the red-dust lanes that weave through the slums of Angola's first city.

Even the main artery that links the port to the civic harbour is little more than a straight country track, paved in a few places, and today choked with cars and lorries pressing for every available bit of space on the slippery mud.

Next to the lunging vehicles, people pick their way past huge mounds of rubbish that mingle with the silt. A few wear Wellington boots. Most are in Brazilian chinelos, or flip flops.

Luanda's stadium of vanity

The day's experience is summed up as a petrol tanker pulls into the oil refinery on an industrial estate beneath the cliffs of Luanda's giant Boavista slum.

As the driver slows for the gate to be opened, a boy of about 12 runs up with a bucket, wrenches open a tap on the lorry's flank and takes a precious few seconds worth of gushing petrol before sprinting away again.

It's not a job, exactly. But the contents sloshing in the bucket are worth more than many people will earn in Angola today.

People in musseques like Boavista see very little return from the 1.8 million barrels of oil produced by the southwest African country every 24 hours, with the World Bank estimating that two-thirds of the population earn less than $2 in that time.

Football comes into focus - for now

Football became the primary concern in Angola for 90 minutes on Sunday night and there could hardly have been a more electrifying opening to this 27th Africa Cup of Nations, as the hosts blitzed four goals past Mali before the visitors fought back for a draw in an unfeasible close to the game.

With Togo now out of the tournament following the killing of three people on their team bus three days ago, Sunday's match allowed sporting hyperbole to take centre stage here in Luanda following the grim realities of violence in the northern enclave of Cabinda.

The Angolan support have been as much apprehensive as excited about their team's prospects in this tournament, especially against a Mali team boasting stars from top sides like European Champions Barcelona and their Galactico rivals Real Madrid.