World Cup may unify Ivorians

2006-05-05 10:26

Parfait Kouassi

Abidjan - Soccer is one of the few unifying factors in war-torn Ivory Coast, and the players on the national team hope their appearance at the World Cup will help the peace process at home.

The Elephants qualified for their first World Cup at the expense of Cameroon. They also reached the final at this year's African Cup of Nations and lost to host Egypt on penalties.

A Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Bonaventure Kalou said: "I don't believe that soccer is going to reunify the country.

"But, it will allow the people a moment of rapprochement and help create the climate, where we can resolve the conflict."

In Germany, the Ivorians were drawn into the tournament's toughest group, facing two-time champion Argentina, the Netherlands and Serbia-Montenegro in the first round.

'We're like outsiders'

That would make it hard for the team to advance to the knockout rounds, but it might bring the people back home a little closer together.

While the team was in Egypt, Ivorians of different political persuasions gathered together to watch the final and cheered in the streets of Abidjan, the main government-held city.

Chelsea forward Didier Drogba was the team's star player, but the Ivorians also had Kalou, Kolo Toure, Aruna Dindane and Didier Zokora to choose from.

Assistant coach Alain Gouamene said: "We're like outsiders. We have nothing to lose and we're going to play as well as we can."

Ivory Coast tumbled into conflict in 2003 and despite a series of peace deals remained divided between an insurgent-controlled north and a government-patrolled south.

Political unrest

Elections were scheduled for later this year and tensions were high in Ivory Coast, where 10 000 United Nations and French peacekeepers patrolled front lines and kept apart the warring factions.

Since the war broke out, jobs were harder than normal to find for Ivorians.

Essential services across the rebel-held north were crumbling and the south was rocked periodically by political unrest or ethnic strife. Many civic organisations, like soccer teams and training groups, had withered under the pressure.

Ivorians hoped their team would give them something solid to rally around, and Gouamene wanted to give it to them - and helped build potential soccer players for Ivory Coast's uncertain future.

Gouamene said: "It has been years since there has been organisations to help the young players. The World Cup will give them something to look up to."

- AP