2 separatists arrested in Togo soccer attack

CABINDA, Angola (AP) — Authorities have arrested two separatists in Angola’s restive Cabinda region following a shooting attack on the Togolese national soccer team that killed three people, a prosecutor announced.

According to Monday’s brief statement from Antonio Nito, the prosecutor in charge of Cabinda province, two unidentified members of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda forces, or FLEC, were captured Sunday near the site of Friday’s shooting.

A FLEC leader reportedly in exile in France claimed responsibility Monday, but said his group had been targeting Angolan troops escorting the Togolese team.

“In war, anything can happen, this is only the beginning,” Rodrigues Mingas, who calls himself the group’s leader, told France-Info radio.

Another FLEC faction had denied responsibility, reflecting divisions in the separatist movement that both weaken it and complicate the task of finding a solution in the region, where unrest has simmered for a generation.

An organization that reunites former FLEC members who started a peace process with the Angolan government in 2006 said that the attack had likely been carried out by dissident FLEC members.

“This attack has been committed by armed gangsters who just want to sabotage the peace process,” said Andre Puango, coordinator of the Cabinda forum for dialogue.

Togo was to have played its opening game against Ghana on Monday in the African Cup of Nations tournament. But Togo’s players reluctantly left Angola late Sunday. They had said they wanted to compete to honor the dead, but their government dispatched the presidential plane after saying it was not safe to stay