France to pay shot Togo keeper's return flight

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RENNES, France, Feb 25, 2010 (AFP) - Togo goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale is set to return to his amateur club Pontivy in the next few day after the French Football Federation (FFF) stepped in to pay for his flight home.

Obilale is in South Africa where he was treated for injuries suffered in the gun attack on the Togo team at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Despite being given the all clear to return to France he has been stuck in South Africa as Nations Cup hosts Angola have failed to clear unpaid bills.

"As the host nation, Angola promised to pick up the bills but nothing has been done," said Philippe Le Mestre, president of the French club Pontivy where Obilale plays.

"The player has been given the medical all clear and was supposed to leave on Wednesday but the plane is blocked at the base."

He said Obilale was to be repatriated by special flight organised by SOS International at a cost of 65,000 euros but an official signature from Angola needed to secure approval for the flight had not been forthcoming.

Later Le Mestre told AFP: "I spoke to FFF president Jean-Pierre Escalettes, who told me the Federation had agreed to take charge of our player's repatriation."

Le Mestres said the player should be back in France "in a few days" after all the necessary paperwork had been completed.

Obilale was shot in the back and abdomen in the attack by seperatist rebels on the Togo team convoy in the northenr Angolan enclave of Cabinda on January 8, two days before the start of the Africa Cup of Nations.

Obilale was airlifted to South Africa for treatment the following day.

"Angolan officials visited him in hospital last week, bringing perfume and flowers for his companion and for his sister but that was it," said Le Mestre.

Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor, who escaped injury when the Togo bus came under fire, paid for the women's trip to South Africa to visit Obilale.