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: www.punchng.com/news/afcon-2015-three-guinea-fans-killed-by-grenade/

Y nah?