Togo PM orders football team home

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"If there is a team or persons present under the banner of Togo at the opening of the African Nations Cup this afternoon, it will be a false representation. The team must return today," Houngbo said.

"We understand the position of the players who want to in some way avenge their dead colleagues, but it would be irresponsible for the Togolese authorities to allow them to continue."

Emmanuel Adebayor, the Togo captain, later told French radio RMC that the team would be returning heeding to the prime minister’s call.

"We had a meeting between players yesterday [Saturday] and we told ourselves we were football players and decided to do something nice for our country by playing to pay tribute to those who died," Adebayor said.

"Unfortunately, the head of State and the country’s authorities have made a different decision, so we will pack and go home."

The team’s assistant coach and spokesman died of wounds sustained when the bus they were travelling in came under attack on Friday in Cabinda province, an oil-rich region separated from the rest of Angola by a thin strip of Democratic Republic of Congo.

An Angolan bus driver was killed at the scene.

Source: Allafrica