Togo in three days of mourning over deaths in Cabinda attack

Togo began a three-day mourning period on Monday in memory of the two killed in an attack on the bus of the Togolese football team by Cabinda separatists in Angola.

The flags are flying at half-mast in the diplomatic quarters, schools and administrative services in the entire country.

The separatists attack on Friday led to nine injuries out of which two succumbed to their injuries, deputy coach Amelete Abalo and media official Stan Ocloo.

The second goalkeeper, Obilale Kodjovi, was also among the injured. He was evacuated to Johannesburg in South Africa for medical treatment, and did not return to Togo on Sunday with the team which pulled out of the African Cup of Nations.

The mourning period will end on Jan. 13, which was celebrated as the "national liberation day" by the regime of Gnassingbe Eyadema between April 1967 and Feb. 5, 2005.

On Jan. 13, 1963, Togo's first elected president Sylvanus Olympio was assassinated in a coup d'etat perpetrated by a group of Togolese military officers who were demobilized by the French army including Eyadema.

On Jan. 13, 1967, four years later, the second president Nicolas Grunitzky was overthrown in a coup d'etat, in which the military claimed that the country was on the "verge of getting divided."

In his New Year message to the nation on Dec. 31, Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe announced the redefinition of the country's calendar, giving another reason for celebrating Jan. 13 "as a day for appeasement and reconciliation."

"Jan. 13, 2010 will be essentially a day of meditation and praying for peace, for reconciliation and for success in the presidential elections," Gnassingbe declared.

The cortege of the Togolese team was shot at by the Cabinda separatists when the team was entering this enclave to play a match against Ghana scheduled for Jan. 11.

It would be a match of the final phase of the African Cup of Nations being held in Angola. The Togolese team had been training for the tournament in Pointe Noire in the Republic of Congo.

Under a government directive, Togo withdrew from the competition bringing its national team back home on Sunday.