Gun-Free World Cup wins support of World Cup star and designer

Hibernian and Ivory Coast defender Sol Bamba has teamed up with fashion designer Katharine Hamnett and IANSA, the international movement against gun violence, to support a gun-free World Cup in South Africa.

Sol was with the Ivory Coast team at the African Cup of Nations when the Togo team bus came under machine gun fire, leaving three dead. The Ivory Coast team also suffered death threats, and were kept under armed guard for the duration of the tournament.

Sol donned the Katharine Hamnett-designed T-shirt to offer his support for the IANSA campaign.
“We should all work together to make sure the violence that threatened the African Cup of Nations is never repeated,” he said.
“Guns and football don’t go together, and the World Cup is an opportunity for everyone to celebrate what is great about Africa. Here’s to a positive, peaceful tournament!”
IANSA’s Gun-Free World Cup campaign highlights the fact that guns will be banned from football stadiums for the duration of the World Cup. Also supporting the campaign are Steven Pienaar (Everton and South Africa), Carlos Tevez (Manchester City and Argentina), Roque Santa Cruz (Manchester City and Paraguay) and Gareth Barry (Manchester City and England).
Launching the campaign, IANSA’s Africa coordinator Joseph Dubesaid: “The fact that guns have been banned from football stadiums for the World Cup is great news. The tournament is a chance for Africa to celebrate – and it would be a fitting legacy if all the competing nations took encouragement from the South African example, and worked to reduce gun violence in their own countries.” IANSA is also working with Gun-Free South Africa to support the country’s gun amnesty, which expires on 11 April.
Michèle Pepe, of the West African Network on Small Arms (Ivory Coast), said : “The World Cup brings together millions of people from around the world. The first World Cup to be held on African soil offers a great opportunity to spread messages of peace and non-violence. Participating African nations, such as the Ivory Coast, who suffer serious harm from the lack of gun control, need to champion the fight against gun violence by supporting this vital campaign.”
Ismaila Kangole of Amnesty International (Ivory Coast) said: “The gun-free World Cup campaign offers a great opportunity to stop the irresponsible international trade in arms that is fuelling gun violence in many African countries”.

Designer Katharine Hamnett, who invented the slogan T-shirt in the 1980s, said: “You don’t have to be a football fan to understand that keeping guns out of stadiums is a good idea.  The next stage is for people to realise that guns have no place in society.”
www.iansa.org/worldcup Photograph by Iain Stewart