Angola

By Al Jazeera Staff in Middle East on February 3rd, 2011

From our headquarters in Doha, we keep you updated on all things Egypt, with reporting from Al Jazeera staff in Cairo and Alexandria.  Live Blog: Jan28 - Jan29 - Jan30 - Jan31 - Feb1 - Feb2 - Feb3 -

By Paul Rhys in Africa on January 31st, 2010

Egypt are African champions for the third successive time, beating a young Ghana team 1-0 with a late goal from a striker plucked from obscurity to finish as the leading scorer at the continental finals.

Mohamed Gedo found out about his inclusion in the Egyptian squad for the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola while idling through the football news on the internet following his international debut in December.

But five goals later, the 25-year-old is Africa's top striker and has a medal round his neck that Ghana's current generation of players can still only dream of.

It is 28 years since the Black Stars last won the trophy, and they had much the better of this final in Luanda before being opened up in surgical fashion by Gedo and fellow marksman Mohamed Zidan.

By Paul Rhys in Africa on January 30th, 2010
Photo by EPA

There is a scene in the British comedy Blackadder Goes Forth, where on a mission into no-man's land during the first world war, one English officer asks his captain what he should do if he treads on a mine.

"Well, normal procedure, lieutenant, is to jump up 200 feet into the air and scatter yourself over a wide area," comes the reply.

The day before their showpiece final in Angola, the Confederation of African Football (Caf) have been indulging in some dark comedy of their own.

And while being equally as idiotic as Blackadder's Lieutenant George, they are also being distinctly unfunny.

In their defence, they are only following procedure. In the same way you might follow procedure once your foot had detonated a mine. That is, in a completely braindead manner.

Tags: Angola
By Paul Rhys in Africa on January 19th, 2010

All sympathy to Mali, who are out of the Africa Cup of Nations after producing some stunning moments in the group stages of the tournament in Angola.

By Paul Rhys in Africa on January 17th, 2010
Photograph by Paul Rhys

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.

By Paul Rhys in Africa on January 11th, 2010

ang565.jpg

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.

By Paul Rhys in Africa on January 9th, 2010

"Balls not bullets" was the call from Angola's head coach on a day when the future of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations veered from murky to uncertain, and back again.

Manuel Jose's meaning may be slightly skewed by the journalist's addiction to alliteration - the word he actually used  was "footballs" - but the organisers of this tournament have some brave decisions to make if anything is to be salvaged in sporting terms from Friday's human tragedy.

At least three of Togo's travelling party are reported to have been killed and others wounded in a machine gun attack on their bus in the northern enclave of Cabinda.

When Al Jazeera's team in Luanda arrived at the Angola squad's hotel on Saturday morning, word coming out of the north was that the Togo team would be staying in the contest, despite the trauma and injury to their players.

Angola coach Jose was unequivocal about the way forward.

By Paul Rhys in Africa on January 8th, 2010
Picture from AFP

In the last hour, the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC) have claimed responsibility for a machine gun attack that greeted the Togo football team as they crossed into Angola for the Africa Cup of Nations.

With the Angolan driver killed, two players and seven others wounded, it is hard to imagine a worse start for what was meant to be Africa's football year.

The hosting of matches in the oil-rich territory of Cabinda is increasingly looking like a terrible idea on this dark Friday night, even here in the capital, Luanda.

For those searching for answers in Cabinda itself, and the four teams stationed there, kicking a ball must seem an impossibility.

Those teams are Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Burkina Faso and the unfortunate Togolese themselves.

Club sides are reluctant enough to release their players for international fixtures under normal circumstances.

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