BA fly to a lot of destinations in Africa. That means flying over Africa. Flying to Cape Town one flies over Nigeria and faced with an emergency requiring a landing the crew have the same limited choices. Passenger delays and discomfort would be one of the last things on my mind if I thought I had a potential fire and needed to get on the ground. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Surely it is better to have the aircraft and passengers safely parked up than a possible smoldering heap.
Once again I am bemused on how people love to bash BA. There will be a team working to get those passengers, crew and aircraft recovered as quickly as possible, but then for those of us who know and love Africa, there will be obstacles to overcome, which are not found in other parts of the world.