the trouble with cabinda

January 9, 2010 2:07 PM

Cabinda is an exclave of Angola with extensive oil fields and a troubled history. Left out of the negotiations that granted Angola independence from the Portuguese, separatist movements in Cabinda have a history nearly as long as that of modern Angola itself. These movements are in the news again, thanks to an attack on the Togolese national football team ahead of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations that has other clubs calling their players back, Cabinda losing the right to host matches, and South Africa reassuring the world that security there will be adequate ahead of this summer's World Cup.
posted by jackflaps (11 comments total)

(First FPP; apologies if it's too newsfilter-y, but there weren't any about Cabinda on the Blue so this seemed like a time for it.)
posted by jackflaps at 2:09 PM on January 9, 2010

First FPP; apologies if it's too newsfilter-y

It's actually quite interesting. I had never heard of Cabinda until this incident. The BBC article contains these quotes which raise an interesting question:

"Our great concern is for the players, but the championship goes ahead," said Habuba, who questioned why Togo had elected to travel by road rather than flying.

"CAF's regulations are clear: teams are required to fly rather than travel by bus," he added.
posted by MikeMc at 2:18 PM on January 9, 2010

When reading the Guardian's article about this I was puzzled in the extreme- not knowing why this event happened. Then, in the mddle of the article were the words "travelling through the oil-rich area" and I felt like I had seen this film before.
posted by Gratishades at 2:43 PM on January 9, 2010

Somewhat of a derail, but since we're talking about World Cup, watch the production process of the official 2010 World Cup match ball Jabulani. Production capacity for the Official Match Ball for South Africa: 1760 balls per day. Production has been running since April 2009.
posted by netbros at 2:57 PM on January 9, 2010

What a boring and irrelevant video.
posted by the cuban at 4:46 PM on January 9, 2010

has anyone noticed Cabinda's state seal is like a weird Cthulu spirit with a white beard?
posted by parmanparman at 9:42 PM on January 9, 2010

.
posted by salishsea at 2:30 AM on January 10, 2010

the Straits times today had full colour photographs of the team captain and others simply shattered by the experience. someone's been quoted as saying that the team was warned not to take a bus through this area but apparently they did anyway. now Togo is saying they won't pull out after all
posted by infini at 3:43 AM on January 10, 2010

URGH, just shoot me for not reading through properly eh
posted by infini at 3:43 AM on January 10, 2010

But hey, Angolan news finally reported the incident, and it only took a couple days....
posted by inigo2 at 8:38 AM on January 10, 2010

Relevant piece in the Guardian today.

Clearly South Africa is a very different place than Angola, but it has its own problems and I think come summer time some of these teams and/or fans will remain understandably jittery.
posted by modernnomad at 5:46 AM on January 11, 2010