4 Congo Olympic Delegation Members Missing
The Associated Press
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) -- A U.N.-run radio station in Congo says four members from the country's Olympic delegation have gone missing in London.
The station reported Monday that judo athlete Cedric Mandembo disappeared after the closing ceremony, and has not been reachable on his mobile phone. He lost his match after 49 seconds.
Authorities tell the radio station that the Congolese athlete left the Olympic village with his baggage without saying where he was going.
The others who have gone missing are two officials with the boxing and judo teams, and a national athletic official.
Already at least seven Cameroonian athletes have failed to return home after the games.
Congo has suffered decades of dictatorship and war and remains mired in poverty despite its mineral riches.
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Olympics-Guinea and Ivory Coast athletes missing in London
Reuters – 6 hours ago
CONAKRY, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Athletes from Guinea and Ivory Coast have joined several other Africans who have gone missing following the London Olympics, officials said on Tuesday.
Three Guineans and three Ivorians disappeared, adding to a total list of 11 Congolese and Cameroonians suspected to be trying to make new lives in Europe.
"Three members of the delegation have not returned to the Olympic village," Adama Doumbia, technical adviser at the Ministry of Sports and Leisure in Ivory Coast, told Reuters.
He did not give the names of the missing members of the delegation but said they contained two swimmers and a wrestling coach.
An official on Guinea's Olympic Committee told Reuters on condition of anonymity that swimmer Dede Camara, judo competitor Facinet Keita and runner Aicha Toure had been missing since Saturday, the day before the closing ceremony.
Games officials are already looking for a Democratic
Republic of Congo judo competitor, three other members of that country's delegation and seven Cameroonian athletes.
The London Olympic organising committee said it had notified British police about the missing Cameroonians but added the athletes would not be infringing immigration laws until their visas expired in November.