A goal too far?

Behind the festival of football served up by the recent African Cup of Nations lie “nations devastated by the small arms trade”. Rhodri Davies reports from Egypt.

Samuel Eto'o, Cameroon www.orinfor.gov.rw Didier Drogba, Cote d’ Ivoire AP Photo Feindouno, Guinea Hot Sports Fabrice Akwa, Angola REUTERS/Stringer John Mikel Obi, Nigeria BBC

The African Cup of Nations (ACN) proceeded in spectacular fashion early this year. Egypt’s 70,000-seater stadiums admirably catered for the world's onlookers. With Eto’o (Cameroon/Barcelona), Kone (Cote d’ Ivoire/PSV Eindhoven) and Feindouno (Guinea/AS Saint-Etienne), Africa’s footballing exports glistened.

But the continent receives far more destructive forces from abroad. Behind fans samba dancing lie nations devastated by the small arms trade. Africa is said to contain one gun for every 20 people. The outcome is conflict - generating hunger, disease, rape and death. An estimated 41,000 gun homicides occur in Africa every year.

In the final of the African Cup of Nations, Cote d’Ivoire were beaten on spot-kicks by Egypt. Requiring resilience to get there, they knocked out favorites Cameroon in the quarter-finals after an amazing 12-11 penalty shoot-out. However, footballing success was cast in the shadow of 1,000s of deaths and millions displaced due to rebel groups and government fighting over the past four years.

Here, UN peacekeepers have been forced out. The economy has plummeted, despite owning 40 per cent of the world’s cocoa production. Child soldiers have been conscripted. It’s far easier to turn a child into a killer with a hand gun than with knives or tanks.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were gritty quarter-finalists. They kicked up significant attention for young midfielder Zola Matumona to allegedly be touted by European scouts. But in the central African nation, plundering of natural resources by local militias to pay for guns has fuelled vicious civil wars in 1996 – when Matumona was just 13 – and in 1998.

The nation is still reeling from what has been described as one of the worst humanitarian disasters since World War II. 100,000s have died from gunshots, and nearly four million in total, as a result of the conflict. A high concentration of arms in the east of the country produces mortality rates one-third higher than the rest of the DRC. Unlike its football team, the nation is divided.

By failing to progress beyond the group stages Angola faired less positively during the ACN. Critics bemoaned Fabrice Akwa as the worst striker at the tournament. In football there must always be a winner and loser. Yet Angola can draw comparisons with tournament counterparts elsewhere. Amongst a heavily armed civilian population, a 27-year war lasted until 2002. Again, 100,000s died. This oil-rich country is now one of the world’s poorest.

Nigeria put up an admirable fight in Egypt, and their young players, such as John Mikel Obi, starred. But during the tournament it was not only football that raised tensions at home. Clashes occurred between the army and an armed militant group fighting for local control of oil wealth in the south. In fact, 1,000s have died in communal rivalry in Nigeria over the past few years. Where armed groups are working, human rights observers have even called the unrest "guerrilla warfare."

Senegal draws comparisons. Showing stirring skills, pace and athleticism in the ACN, the sting in an unfortunate quarterfinal defeat against Egypt must have stayed with players in the succeeding days. Memories of a 20-year civil war will last a lot longer. 3,500 have died and 1,000s have been displaced in the southern-western Casamance region. Despite a 2004 peace deal rebels have factionalised killing 100s in just over a year. Without small arms, separatist strength would be muted.

South Africa’s ACN was indifferent. Performances will have to improve to satisfy the public by the time it hosts the World Cup in 2010. So will its arms record – 25 gun-related deaths occur in South Africa every day.



Small arms ignite and deepen conflicts such as those in Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal. Often it’s all local militias can afford and opportunity for acquisition is considerable.

The weak regulation of the arms trade can be considered ‘passive protectionism’ at its best. Western costs appear less when you consider that the US, Britain and France earned more from authorised arms sales to the developing world than they gave in aid from 1998 to 2001. It benefits such nations to have a fluid market for arms.

Coordinated international regulation attacking the true underlying problems of poverty and mortality in Africa is necessary. Then perhaps by the next ACN, national success will not be considered a temporary antidote for shattered homelands.