Cry For Africa

Its former colonial masters have two images of Africa; war and famine. The nation states which comprise the continent would much rather it wasn't that way. And the people who are citizens of those states must have the same wish.

Despite endemic corruption and under-development they have made some progress and are always seeking to make even more strides towards persuading the white man that there is more to their world than meets our eye.

That must have been at least one reason for Angola deciding to host some of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations matches in Cabinda. OK, so other reasons mights have included trying to pacify locals,most of whom have never accepted Angolan rule almost since the day Luanda was given control of the former Portugese colony, on its own independence in 1975.

But since a 2006 ceasefire in the long-running "forgotten war" there must have been hopes that some kind of normality could be mapped out for the oil-rich enclave, even if there was ongoing resentment at the way Angola exploits those oil revenues for its own ends rather than for those of the Cabindans.

To some degree Angola's image to the rest of the world, which the Luanda government knew could be portrayed in a more positive light with the award of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, rested partly with the risky decision to build a new football stadium in Cabinda and stage some matches in the tournament there.

And now, with the attack on the Togo team that has been wiped away. It is a tradgedy for Angola and Cabinda first of all because, despite the 2006 accords it proves the Angolan government and the separatists have not made lasting progress towards a meaningful resolution of the independence struggle. It could signal more violence in the region.

It is bad news for Angola's reputation abroad and for the dream, the hope that the country put before expectation, that it could organise a huge international event. Those who had wanted, and worked towards, throwing off the image of a civil war-torn nation have had at least some of their hopes dashed.

And, lest we forget, it is bad news for the whole of Africa. The developed world will say, "We told you so." Africa again becomes a place of endless violence, a place of fear and loathing where it is not safe to tread and which, some might say, we should simply give up on as a basket case.

With the World Cup heading to South Africa this summer will the half a million tourists expected there still look on it as a holiday or a scary trip to the heart of darkness ? And more to the point, will the cries of the powerful simply say it's not worth the risk to give Africa a chance to prove that it is more than just a place of hunger and bloodshed ?