Incident

Stanislas Ocloo

Cause of death

Explosion

Details

Togolese sports journalist Stanislas Ocloo, 35, was killed in the attack on the Togo national soccer team’s bus in the northwestern Angolan enclave of Cabinda. 

As many as three people were killed and nine wounded in the strike, CNN reported. Ocloo, a contributor to sports programs on national broadcaster Télévision Togolaise (TVT) and the communications chief of the Togolese soccer association, died on Saturday morning, hours before the kick-off of the African Nations Cup he was going to cover, according to news reports. TVT presenter Blaise Amedodji, who appeared with Ocloo on a weekly sports program called “Club of Saturday” since 2007, told CPJ the journalist had planned to carry out interviews with African soccer stars for the station.

Angolan authorities announced the arrests of two suspects in connection with the attack, which was claimed by the separatist Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda, according to news reports. There has been a low-level insurgency for regional independence for decades. According to local journalists, hooded gunmen opened fire on the team bus some 15 minutes after it crossed into Cabinda from neighboring Republic of Congo. Togo pulled out of the tournament and a national three-day mourning period began today.

The Union of Independent Journalists of Togo called the incident “savage aggression” and called on Angolan authorities to assume responsibility for the security lapse. Ocloo began his journalism career in 1995 as a consultant with a youth program on private station Tropic FM, then reported with Avenir FM before joining Togo’s first sports station, Sport FM, in 2001, according to Amedodji. Ocloo had become engaged last month, according to local journalists.