Hosting the 2010 World Cup will be an opportunity to "bury" African pessimism, according to a South African minister.

"This is the first time FIFA has hosted this soccer spectacle on the African continent. It gives us an opportunity to bury African pessimism," Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, South Africa's international relations minister, said here.

Two members of Togo's delegation for the Africa Cup of Nations soccer tournament in Angola were killed in an ambush on Jan. 8, fueling security concerns for the World Cup, which Nkoana-Mashabane readily dismissed:

"If there is a bombardment in some part of Spain, people don't say 'don't go to Europe because see what happened to Spain,' but if something happens in Angola, people say 'don't go to South Africa.'"

"Let's remember that Angola is an independent state. There are 53 independent states in Africa. South Africa happens to be one of them," Nkoana-Mashabane said.

South Africa will host the FIFA World Cup from June 11 to July 11.