Angola rises from the ruins of war
Posted To The Web: Saturday, February 06, 2010 - FEMI ATOYEBI



The arrival lobby of the Luanda Airport in Angola was busy, with passengers who just arrived at the capital from various destinations forming a long queue. The delay in the clearance procedure could not be understood but after standing on a spot for 30 minutes, this reporter, decided to talk to the officials at the head of the queue.

But there was language barrier as the officials only understood Portuguese. The use of sign language only compounded the problem because interpretation did not really represented intention. An American woman who was watching the drama offered to help in the interpretation because of her understanding of the Portuguese language. Having satisfied that the reporter‘s mission was to cover the Africa Cup of Nations, one of the airport senior officers ordered that the reporter be attended to.

After the accreditation procedure which was delayed by difference in language, the journey to Lubango was made difficult by the presence of touts who sometimes sell fake flight ticket at higher price.

This reporter almost became a victim of such practice but for the shout of ”Up Palancras Negras” he muttered to an illegal flight ticket vendour before asking for how he could get a flight to Lubango. It saved the day as the man, who claimed to have been born in Johannesburg during the war, offered that there would be no more flight going to Lubango for the day.

”The two flights for the day were fully booked since yesterday. You can no longer travel today. Don‘t give your passport or money to anyone to buy a ticket for you because they will run away,” he said before offering also that a chartered flight would leave in 20 minutes and that there were few spaces remaining.

There would have been more difficulty but for the people‘s love for football. To them, all visitors coming to cover the first Nations Cup in Angola must be treated specially, except hotels and restaurants owners who ensured that they maximized the advantage of hosting Africa.

In Cabinda, rebels put a big stain on the competition when they attacked the Togolese national team bus. Although they offered apology, claiming that they did not know it was a bus carrying the team, it was not enough as Togo withdrew from the competition. The Angola media also ensured that the incident was played down.

After qualifying for the quarterfinals of the championship with a goalless draw against Algeria, there was celebration throughout the country with all television stations showing footages of how the Angolans reacted to the feat.

In Lubango, people rode on big motor bikes through the night while pick-up vans ran the streets. The local pubs did not close; it was a carnival that confirmed the unity of a nation once devastated by cruel civil war that was fuelled by the fight to control the nation‘s rich natural resources. Even after the ouster of the Palancras Negras from the competition in the quarterfinals by Ghana, the celebration was the same and you would wonder whether the result had been reversed in the host‘s favour.

With football taking its root in the Southern African country, Angolans no longer discriminate when supporting their football heroes. It no longer matters where Flavio Amando, Akwa or Jacinto Joao comes from when football takes centre stage. From the capital in Luanda, to the mountainous province of Huila, the Ocean side province in Benguela and the country sides in Cubango and Cunene, football has become the unifying world

The Angola government spent billions of dollars to build the four new stadia in Luanda, Benguela, Lubango and Cabinda. Estadio 11 de Novembro in Luanda seats 50,000 fans while the Estadio Nacional do Chiazi has 20,000 capacity seating. The Estadio Nacional de Ombaka in Benguela can accommodate 35,000 fans. In Lubango, the Estadio Nacional da Tundavala has capacity to seat 20,000 fans. But beyond the stadia capacity, all of them are master piece of architectures‘ designs.

Apart from building the stadia, Angola is profiting greatly from hosting Africa with construction of fine road network across the nation. Although work is still going on as reconstruction process continues, Angola is gradually rewriting a new autobiography, rising from the ruins of its ugly past.

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