Danny Jordaan, CEO, South African World Cup Organizing Committee

“If there is a security breach in Finland, you are not going to ask England to explain,” he said, adding that the distance between South Africa and Angola is equivalent to the distance between Finland and the U.K.

The head of the organizing committee for the soccer World Cup in South Africa dismissed concerns over the safety of the event after the Togolese national team was attacked by rebels in Angola en route to the Africa Cup of Nations tournament.

The team bus came under machine-gun fire on Jan. 8 just after it had crossed the border from the Republic of Congo into the Angolan region of Cabinda. The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda, Angola’s main separatist group, claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed the driver, Togo’s assistant coach, and the squad’s press officer. Togo’s reserve goalkeeper, Kodjovi Obilale, is recovering after being flown to Johannesburg, where he had emergency surgery.

“We should not be condemned by what happens in a country far away from us. It can’t be right, it makes no sense. It’s illogical,” Danny Jordaan, the leader of the committee, told reporters in Johannesburg today. “If there is a security breach in Finland, you are not going to ask England to explain,” he said, adding that the distance between South Africa and Angola is equivalent to the distance between Finland and the U.K.

South Africa is hosting the first World Cup on the African continent. In the wake of the Angolan attack, newspapers in the U.K. have questioned the safety of holding the tournament in the country. Phil Brown, manager of Hull City, a team in England’s top division that has African players, said the attack raises doubts about the security of the World Cup.

“I am appalled,” Brown said, according to the Sun, a U.K. newspaper. “This throws a question mark against next summer’s World Cup.”

Brown’s comments show “he is ill-informed” Jordaan said.

South Africa is separated from Angola by Namibia, a country eight times the size of the U.K. There are no armed rebel groups fighting the South African government, though the country does have one of the world’s highest murder rates.

A 25-year long civil war in Angola ended in 2002.

South Africa is spending R1.3 billion ($176 million) on security for the tournament and is hiring an additional 45,000 security officers, Jordaan said. The army will have 2,500 staff working to ensure safety during the tournament, V.J. Ramlakan, a lieutenant general in the South African army, said at the press conference. Watch video on South African Police Service’s security measures.

“One doesn’t wake up one fine morning and plan security for a World Cup,” Ramlakan said. The country has been working “non-stop” on security arrangements since South Africa was named host-nation in May 2004, he said. Security would be better than in Germany, Japan and South Korea, the hosts of the previous two soccer World Cups, Ramlakan said.

South Africa has successfully hosted rugby and cricket world cups and was the site of the Indian Premier League cricket competition last year because of concerns about safety in India.

None of the teams participating in the World Cup has expressed concerns over safety following the Angola attack, Jordaan said.

“The event in Angola has nothing to do with South Africa and has absolutely nothing to do with the event in South Africa,” he said. “If we apply that, we are applying double standards.”

Read more on the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa

Source(s): Bloomberg News