Black soccer stars to 'go missing' next month

(GIN)—Top African athletes who star in Europe’s beloved soccer teams will disappear next month to fulfill their contracts with home teams in Africa and compete in the 2010 African Nations Cup.

The African championships kick off Jan. 10 in Angola but reports from the region say that roads, airports and stadiums are still unfinished and tickets aren’t on sale.

A Voice of America reporter Jose Manuel and Benoit Faucon, a reporter from Dow Jones newswires in London, were detained for five hours by local police in Cabinda while trying to photograph the yetto- be ready stadiums.

The government has reportedly spent more than one billion dollars building four new stadiums in Luanda, Benguela, Lubango and Cabinda, and on repairing infrastructure destroyed by 27 years of civil war which ended in 2002.

According to public works minister Higinio Carneiro, however, there is nothing to worry about.

“The stadiums will be ready,” he told AFP.

The tournament has spurred development and new hotels have been built, although finding an affordable room, particularly in Luanda, the most expensive city in the world, could be hard for many visiting supporters.

A new four-star hotel, the Skyna in central Luanda, is charging $600 a night for a single room during January, compared to its regular $390 tariff.

This is part of the December 23, 2009 online edition of Frost Illustrated.

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