Cabinda has no bearing on South Africa

The reaction of the British media to the recent attack on the Togolese national football team highlights the outmoded attitude that many in the West still hold towards the continent of Africa. The attack, which came as the team travelled to the African Nations Cup, was a tragedy. What's more, it was one which could probably have been avoided. With the continent hosting it's first ever World Cup this summer, what effect does this incident have on South Africa 2010?

According to the football community here in Britain, the impact will be massive. Broadsheets and tabloids, the radio, TV and web: it seems hard to escape some journalist, manager or pundit's ill-informed speculation as to how the World Cup will suffer. Some have called for tighter security, while others have questioned the continent's ability to host the competition at all. Throughout this hysteria, Africa's reputation was unfairly slandered, and only a few tiny voices of sanity have been heard.

The loudest and perhaps most articulate objections have come from Danny Jordaan, the chief organiser of this summer's World Cup. Today he launched an attack on Hull manager Phil Brown, who had previously suggested that the attack "throws a question mark against next summer's World Cup." Jordaan pointed out the absurdity of suggesting that attacks that happened such a long distance away should have a significant effect on South Africa's ability to host the tournament:

"If there is a war in Kosovo and a World Cup in Germany, no-one asks if the World Cup can go on in Germany, everyone understands the war in Kosovo is a war in Kosovo. The world must be balanced and must not apply different standards when it comes to the African continent."

This illustrates the point entirely (although to be pedantic, France '98 would have been a more historically accurate example in relation to Kosovo). To a Western commentator, the idea that a war in the Balkans might prevent a modernised Central European state from hosting a major international sporting tournament is absurd. However, the Western view of Africa is different. In Africa, you see, the idea that an insurgency in a northern Angolan exclave might mean trouble fifteen-hundred miles away in South Africa is not absurd in the slightest. It seems that to Phil Brown and the British press Africa does not have varied political situations like exist between European states. No, the entire African continent is, in fact, one huge continuum of spontaneous danger.

The truth is, the unfortunate circumstances which lead to the tragic incident cannot be generalised to this summer's World Cup. The political situation that exists in Cabinda does not exist in South Africa. The tournament's security will be much more thorough, with many teams bringing private security teams to bolster Fifa's already tight control. In Phil Brown's defence, he is just one of countless commentators who have aired similar views. These primitive attitudes towards Africa have been displayed right across the British media.

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This interesting article from Time Magazine puts it far better than I ever could.