Cabinda rebels for independence attacked Togo’s football team on its way to the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola on Friday. Three people were killed and nine were wounded. The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC), responsible for the terrorist attack, threatened that “This operation is only the start of a series of targeted actions that will continue in all the territory of Cabinda.” FLEC has fought for independence for a few decades.
Although we respect people’s right to independence, we condemn violence of any sort as a means to freedom. Violence doesn’t solve anything. The people who were killed and wounded weren’t responsible for the condition of Cabinda. The families of the Togo’s football team members didn’t have to suffer for something they had no power to change. Violence only causes more violence. With so many people already dying in Africa because of famine, diseases, water pollution, and genocides, why do FLEC members think that terrorist attacks can solve their problems? Why do FLEC members think that killing innocent people is justified?
We pray for Togo’s football team and the families of its members. We pray for Cabinda and its people. We pray for FLEC to remembers the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., the 14th Dalai Lama and all others who have tried to make the world a better place through nonviolent ideas and movements.
