-Photo by Reuters

BATA, Equatorial Guinea: Libya are the fairytale competitors at the Africa Cup of Nations but the journey from bloody civil war to the continental showcase has not been easy, as one of the team's medical staff can testify.

Helvecio Pessoa linked up with the Libya team in July 2010, working with his Brazilian compatriot, coach Marcos Paqueta and the almost entirely Brazilian staff.

The 55-year-old, in an interview with AFP after Libya's opening loss to co-hosts Equatorial Guinea, recounted the trauma of having to flee the country at the start of the revolution to topple dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

And he told of the remarkable efforts made to keep the Libya team operating against the back drop of the bombs and bullets so successfully that they ended up qualifying for the 2012 Cup.

Reflecting on circumstances before civil war erupted Pessoa said: “Life in Tripoli was normal, and safe.

“We lived amongst ourselves, eating churrasco. We never had any problem with Mohammmed (Gaddafi's eldest son and the ex-president of the Libyan Football Federation).”

Then Libya erupted, with Pessoa recalling: “At the start of the uprising we were scared, but my family back in Brazil were even more concerned.

“I've got a son in the United States, we were speaking via Skype, then all of a sudden the connection was cut. I found out later that he broke down in tears as he was so scared.”

In February 2011 he and the rest of the Brazilian staff decided it was time to leave Libya.

“We went to the Libyan Football Federation's headquarters - the building was destroyed.

“We went to see the Brazil ambassador, who gave us support. All the travel agencies were shut, we booked tickets on the internet.

“We went to the airport, but it was as if all the foreign population of Libya was there too.

“We returned the next day, each of us taking one small bag, some had their wives and children with them, only to find even more people there.

“A Libyan working for the embassy helped us through check-in and we managed to board the last two commercial flights on Alitalia for Rome.

“Since that day we've never returned to Libya.”

He and his compatriots on the Libyan team's staff have been living in Brazil since, meeting up with the team in Tunisia.

“We spoke to the coach who stayed in Libya via Facebook.

“For the (qualifying) match against Mozambique held in Cairo we didn't know the players.

“Most of them had come from Benghazi.

“The new political authorities had a black list (one of the names on that list was captain Tarek El Tayab, a Gaddafi supporter).

“It was difficult for Paqueta, because these were good players.”

He put Libya's “miraculous” Nations Cup qualification down to the spirit of the squad.

“They never complain, I observed a big difference in the young players who earn lots of money and get up to no matter what - in contrast this squad were very serious and motivated.”

The only player attached to a regular club was midfielder Jamal Abdallah, who plays for Sporting Braga in Portugal.

“For all the others we had to work on their strength, with lots of work in the gym, but also work with the ball.”

We had to prepare in Qatar and in the United Arab Emirates, with 40 degree heat, humidity and during ramadan.

“Einstein would have gone mad with that equation!”

He says he and and the other staff with the team haven't been paid for up to five months.

“We're in the process of negotiating the backpay, it'll be sorted out after this Nations Cup, the people at the Federation are correct.

“At the moment there aren't the necessary security conditions to return to play in Libya. We don't know when the Libyan league will be able to resume.

“In truth, we would have preferred not to have experienced all of that.”

Libya's second match at the 2012 Cup is against Zambia in Bata on Wednesday.