[ 2015-01-24 ]

Three Guinea fans killed by grenade
Police have confirmed three people have been
killed and another is critically ill after a
grenade exploded in a bar packed with football
fans in Guinea’s capital Conakry, during their
Africa Cup of Nations opener.

A transmission problem in the area saw hordes of
supporters gather inside the public house, but
disaster struck when a local man - who is said to
have had military training - released the device
into the crowd.

An eyewitness told guineenews: “When the grenade
exploded, I thought it was a short-circuit, but
the noise was too loud and there was a lot of
smoke. Luckily, the rest of my family couldn’t
get here – if they had, they might have been
killed.

Guinea drew their opening game 1-1 with the Ivory
Coast but their captain Kamil Zayatte said news of
the incident had cast a shadow over what should
have been a moment of celebration for the nation.

“We wanted to give the people back home
something to cheer, and there were parties all
over Conakry [the capital city] when we drew 1-1
with Ivory Coast in our opening game,” he said.
“Then we heard about the deaths. It’s terrible
news.”

The Syli Nationale have had a nightmare
preparation for the tournament, being exiled
because of the presence of the Ebola virus in
Guinea, where nearly 2,000 people have been killed
by the disease.

They had to play all their ‘home’ qualifiers
in Morocco, and were abused at away games by fans
who shouted “Ebola! Ebola!” at the team.
Airport workers in Uganda and Togo told them,
“We don’t want you here. You have the
virus.”

Guinea are almost without support in Equatorial
Guinea, while their rivals in Group D have large
followings. Ivory Coast had large groups of
orange-clad fans on all sides of the pitch at the
first game, while neighbouring Cameroon, in the
second match, were backed by about 3,000
supporters who live and work in Malabo.

Mali, who held Cameroon 1-1, had the biggest
following – about 4,000. There are many
thousands of Malians working in Bata and Malabo,
Equatorial Guinea’s two biggest cities. All
games in Malabo are already sold out.

Guinea’s coach, Michel Dussuyer, was asked by
Goal if this put his team at a disadvantage. “We
are used to it,” he said.

“If the people of Equatorial Guinea supported us
it would be very welcome – we would really
appreciate it. But we played all our qualifying
games with no home support, in Morocco, and here
it is the same context. We will just have to focus
on our task, on our football.”

Source - Goal.com

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