Funeral For Togo Football Officials After Angola Attack

A funeral ceremony has been held in the Togolese capital, Lome, for the two football officials killed in Angola ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations. The service was attended by Togo's president, Angola's foreign minister and surviving team members, including captain Emmanuel Adebayor. A BBC correspondent says it was a moving ceremony attended by hundreds of mourners and relatives. Separatist rebels in Cabinda say they shot at the Togo team's bus. After the attack, Togo pulled out of the tournament. They were due to play Burkina Faso on Friday afternoon. The coffins of press officer Stanislas Ocloo, 35, killed just three days after he married, and deputy national coach Amelete Abalo, 54, were draped in the national flag. They were carried by soldiers to the Palace of Congress. Mr Adebayor led the tributes to the two dead men. "Without fear for your lives, you have always been combatants. Each one of you has scored a positive winning goal together for the Sparrowhawks [Togo's national team]," he said. The two dead men are to be buried next week in their home villages. Angolan officials have denied initial reports that the Angolan bus driver also died in the attack. Three more people, including a university professor, have been arrested in Cabinda over the attack, human rights groups say. "We fear that after Can [Africa Cup of Nations] the security forces will carry out a military operation on a larger scale and that the authorities may also trigger a new wave of repression against civil society members on charges of allegedly promoting separatist ideas," said Lisa Rimli from Human Rights Watch.