The hosts appeared set for the best possible start when a first half double from Flavio Armado and penalties from Gilberto and Manucho had them celebrating a famous victory.

With only 16 minutes left on the clock, Mali looked down and out.

But a double from Seydou Keita and contributions from Frederic Kanoute and Mustapha Yattabare gave them an improbable draw.

This Nations Cup curtain raiser began with a minute's silence in memory of the victims of Friday's deadly gun attack on the Togo team bus in Cabinda.

The silence, immaculately observed by the 50 000 capacity crowd, turned to something much louder seconds after kick-off when Mali goalkeeper Mahamadou Sidibe had to look lively to deal with Flavio's shot from the left.

The Angolan striker only made coach Manuel Jose's starting 11 after shrugging off injury but Keita was on the bench after missing the Eagles' warm-up games with a thigh problem.

Angola were forced into an unscheduled change of personnel in the 22nd minute when Aderito Carvalho was carried off on a stretcher and replaced by Djalma Campos.

Mali coach, Stephen Keshi, sent Barcelona midfielder, Keita, into the fray sooner than expected when Le Mans forward, Modibo Maiga, limped out of contention.

This was the first ever match at the November 11 Stadium, built by the Chinese and resembling a smaller version of Beijing's Birds' Nest.

The "Chicks' Nest" burst into life in the 35th minute when Flavio raced onto Gilberto's angled 20 metre freekick from the left to put the hosts in front with a low, powerful header.

One minute from the break, Flavio got his double, another fine header set up by fullback, Jose 'Malbina' Alberto.

That prompted the wife of Angolan head of state, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, to jump off her seat and execute a very unpresidential jig.

Mali's multi-million pound strikeforce, led by Sevilla's Kanoute, proved strangely impotent in the first half.

They looked a more purposeful force after the interval with only Angola keeper Carlos Fernandes' charge out of his box stopping Mali captain Mahamadou Diarra's shot.

Gilberto then struck from the spot after he was brought down in the box by Mamadou Samassa.

The Al-Ahly midfielder proved a cool customer as he converted but was then invited to have a second go by Egyptian referee, Essam Abdel Fatah, which he duly struck past Sidibe.

Manucho got Angola's fourth goal, also from the spot, after another foul on Gilberto.

But then Angola crumbled.

Keita began the comeback after a scramble for the ball in the box, following a mistake by Fernandes.

Then Kanoute struck with a classy header with Keita producing a volley for his double and Yattabare grabbing a highly unlikely point for the Eagles.