Jordaan accuses world of double standards after Togo attack

By Andrew Warshaw

January 10 – Danny Jordaan (pictured), chief executive of this year’s World Cup, insists no link should be drawn between the terrorist attack on the Togo team at the African Nations Cup in Angola and the tournament in South Africa.

As the Togo team dramatically pulled out of the Nations Cup following Friday’s deadly assault in which three people were killed and several others wounded, Jordaan said any suggestion that South Africa would be equally dangerous was way off the mark.

“Why are people suddenly applying double standards?” Jordaan said.

“When there are bombs and terrorist attacks in Europe, do we hear about the London 2012 Olympics being under threat?

“No we don’t.

“Angola and South Africa are two separate geographical areas, two separate sovereign countries.”

Jordaan said he was “shocked and saddened” at the attack on the Togo team bus by separatist rebels in the northern province of Cabinda but said there was no reason to assume South Africa would also be a target.

“Angola invested $1 billion in the tournament and its infrastructure is terrific.

“It’s the fastest growing economy in Africa.

“It’s sad and unfortunate that this happened.

“But Angola is a country that was locked in civil war for many years.

“On the level of the terrorism index, South Africa hardly features.”

Nevertheless doubts are now being raised as to why war-torn Angola nation was chosen to host the Nations Cup in the first place.

Reports suggest Togo failed to inform tournament organisers that the team, which included Manchester City’s £25 million striker Emmanuel Adebayor (pictured), was travelling overland from its training camp through a dangerous area with no security.

But the very fact that it was too risky to go by land raises alarming questions.

“Obviously I will be fully briefed about what happened but no country can take responsibility for the security of another,” said Jordaan.

“We cannot be called to account for the security arrangements of Angola which is far removed from South Africa.

“Terrorism is largely absent from the African Continent.

“It hits London, it hits Spain, it hits New York.

“Look at the recent attempt to blow up the plane in the USA.

“I repeat, let’s be careful of double standards.

“International terrorism is a reality.

“What every country must do is strengthen its intelligence capacity and security arrangements.

“We have already done that.

“We take security very, very seriously and have made high levels of investment.”

Togo were due to play Ghana in their opening Nations Cup match in Cabinda tomorrow.

FIFA will now come under growing pressure to call off the entire event which gets under way today, when hosts Angola play Mali in the capital Luanda, but will inevitably be overshadowed by the appalling atrocity.

The fear is that fans may now be dissuaded from travelling to the World Cup in June but Jordaan says that would be a big mistake.

“If there is a war in Kosovo and a World Cup in Germany, no-one asks if the World Cup can go on in Germany,” he said.

“The world must be balanced and must not apply different standards when it comes to the African continent.

“Our World Cup is secure and we are confident because we have employed a lot of resources to safeguard the event in our country.”

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