Comoros-Ghana: Comorian fan killed by 'accidental' shot

Comoros were on cloud nine on 21 November. The Coelacanths had caused a sensation by beating Ghana 1-0 in Group I of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. Comoros thus picked up their first points. But an unfortunate incident occurred during the match. A 21-year-old Comorian supporter was hit in the forehead by an "accidental shot" fired by a soldier, according to the AFP. Taken to hospital, Fahad Moindze was evacuated to Tanzania for treatment. He died in hospital on Tuesday 28 November. "I am in pain, I have no words, my nephew is dead", said Sitti Ahamada, the aunt of the young man who died, when reached by telephone by the AFP.

Fahad Moindze was a victim of the shot fired by a soldier amid the confusion; the soldier was part of the security operation. Government spokesman Houmed Msaidie addressed the incident. The accident "was caused by the accidental handling of a weapon, but all of this stems from the fact that there was a crush caused by a crowd surge of people who wanted to get into the stadium at all costs", he told the AFP.

However, the explanation has not gone down well with the public. Civil society and NGOs are protesting against police abuses. "Police abuses must not go unpunished", lawyer Djamal El-Dine Bacar insisted. The Comoros supporters' club, for its part, intends "to approach the authorities by filing a complaint against persons unknown over this abuse."