Many footballers have used their influence to great effect in their home country, whether by sponsoring a charity or by linking their names to a project, but none has ever stopped a country tearing itself apart as Didier Drogba did for Ivory Coast.
By requesting that the 2008 African Cup of Nations qualifiers match against Madagascar be played in Bouake, the stronghold of rebel forces, he played a pivotal role in bringing about peace in the country.
Ivory Coast was known as the 'haven of peace' of West Africa in the early 1960s and 1970s. Its flexible immigration policy, combined with its measured agricultural policy and political stability, under the reign of its first president, the late Félix Houphouët Boigny, attracted many citizens from the poor and unstable neighbouring countries of Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso.
This huge imported manpower worked hard in the coffee and cocoa plantations, propelling the country to the position of the world's top cocoa producer and second coffee producer. Families of these immigrants dramatically increased, thereby outnumbering local inhabitants in many regions of the country. With their numerous descendants, they became aware of their human force and demanded proper care and attention and began to extend their activities beyond the borders of the cocoa plantations.
They also started to participate in the political life of the country, meeting fierce resistance from self-proclaimed 'true Ivorians' who resorted to a set of tactics to exclude them from any political ground. These tactics of exclusion were based on a concept known as 'Ivoirité'.
The word 'Ivoirité' was coined by late Professor Niangoran Porquet in the 1970s, and was primarily used to designate the various Ivorian cultural identities. This famous Ivorian scholar taught at Cocody University, Abidjan, the country's capital, and wrote many books on the distinctive Ivorian cultural traits.
In 1993, a few weeks after the death of President Houphouët Boigny, the concept of Ivoirité was manipulated by politicians and used to exacerbate ethnic dissensions. This was the period in which Ivoirité was being applied to differentiate true Ivorians from northerners and descendants of immigrants, thus excluding the latter group from political activities.
Henri Konan Bédié, the then President of Parliament, succeeded the late Félix Houphouët Boigny, according to Article 11 of the Ivorian Constitution and remained interim President until the presidential poll. On 22nd October 1995, the Minister of Interior organized a presidential poll and Bédié was elected President with 95% of the vote, in a poll boycotted by the main opposition group, the Republican Front, led by Laurent Gbagbo, President of the FPI party and Alassane Ouattara, President of the RDR party.
Mr. Bédié's opponents, who were against the way the interim presidency was being run, claimed that Bédié should not have been allowed to take charge of the transition until election day. On the other hand, they said the electoral law was highly favourable to the PDCI, the dominant political party led by Bédié.
Under the administration of President Bédié, a separate and fiercer identity concept was fomented. Immigrants and people from the north were considered as undesirables and were harassed by armed forces. Northerners were not regarded as 'true Ivorians' by many southerners, who had long been angered by citizens from poorer neighbouring countries who were claiming Ivorian nationality.
The bitter politics of former opposition leaders Alassane Ouattara and Laurent Gbagbo, and that of the dignitaries of the then ruling party, PDCI, had fractured the trust between the more than sixty ethnic group,; and had paved the way for political turmoil, triggering a series of military coups. From the first coup in 1999, political unrest became the rule in the country.
On Christmas Eve 1999, the country suffered its first coup d'état. Soldiers led by the late General Robert Guéï seized power and unrest reigned until Gbagbo was elected in October 2000, in the wake of the country's most disputed presidential elections.
There was another coup attempt in January 2001, which was foiled with heavy weaponry by pro-Gbagbo forces. During the reprisals, many northerners, often accused of harbouring rebels, were harassed. A third coup attempt in September 2002 failed, but the country spiralled into civil war and was split into two parts: the rebel-held north and the pro-government south. There were many casualties from both warring sides and thousands were displaced.
Only the national football squad brought hope and true unity
While Ivory Coast slid into civil war, the Ivorian national football team, The Elephants, remained intact. In a country where the hatred against immigrants and northerners by the south-based regime came to a peak, the national football team, with many of the country's best soccer players coming from the north or descendants of immigrants, has become a strong symbol of unity, something that the country desperately needs.
The Elephants have become something between a respite and salvation. The strife literally stops whenever the national team plays, enemies even putting their differences to one side, embracing each other and vigorously celebrate the team's success. For a few short hours, northerners and southerners think of themselves as Ivorians and take pride in their country - transcending political party, tribe and religion.
The national football team is now being seen as the crucible of inter-ethnic contact and also as the entry point toward reconciliation between divided communities and rival factions. It has become an irresistible symbol of unity and inclusion as well as the frame for a single Ivorian identity.
The ethnic make-up of the team
At least three quarters of the squad are northerners: the Touré brothers (Yaya and Gnegneri), Kone Bakary, Kone Kouamatien, Meite Aboulaye, Cissé Sekou, Sanogo Aboubacar, just to name a few. Kader Keita, Aruna Dindane and Bary Copa, the goalkeeper, are descendants of immigrants, but they have never been rejected by their team mates or by the population, who see them as heroes.
The main reasons for the team's cohesion are to be found in the explanation of Dr Mangoua, the team's psychologist: 'The Ivorian football team provides a frame for inter-ethnic contact, by increasing the contact, it decreases the feeling of insecurity toward the other ethnic group, the other identity, which would then hopefully begin to be seen as an acceptable form of identity.'
The national football team - made up of players from various ethnic groups from both north and south - has resisted the temptation of ethnic division and identity crisis though its composition. 'Didier Drogba is from an ethnic group of the south and I am from the north, but all this means nothing to us when we meet to play,' Barcelona's midfielder Yaya Touré told me on the phone.
'Players of the national football team are not recruited on an ethnic basis,' exclaimed Jacques Anoma, the President of the Ivorian Football Association, when asked how the team was selected. 'Their skill and the quality of their game are the main selection criteria.'
Team spirit
The players are regularly acclaimed as an example the rest of the country can follow and the team spirit of The Elephants has become a case study: 'Every player was aware that the country was sinking into chaos due to ethnic differences. We had a real responsibility as the country counted on us to show that there was more to Ivory Coast than fighting, then, we had to put aside ethnic differences in the interests of team spirit' said Manchester City defender Kolo Touré.
So, much more than mere victory is at stake whenever The Elephants are on the pitch. They want to inspire unity in Ivorians and help politicians change the situation.
Every national football team has its heroes and its legends. And there are many. But for Ivory Coast, there is only one: Didier Drogba. He is, without doubt, the most amazing icon of Ivorian football today. His memorable appeal to politicians and to leaders of warring sides to lay down their arms will remain a turning point in the political life of the country.
The memorable appeal
When asked why and how the idea of his appeal came to him, all he said to me during a phone interview arranged by his father was: 'Selay, understand I had a unique opportunity to plead the cause of unity. It was something I thought of before; I was just looking for the right occasion to call out for peace. Ivory Coast could not sink into chaos forever.' Didier Drogba was to surprise Ivorians with his appeal that day in October 2005, when after the match against Sudan, he picked up a microphone in the dressing room and, surrounded by his teammates, fell to his knees live on television and begged warring factions to lay down their arms.
'When I saw my son on television with the microphone, I wondered what he would say and I was astonished and proud of his appeal,' Clotilde Drogba burst out, her voice conveying her emotion. The mother of the international football star whom I met in their very modest home in Bingerville, 20 km from Abidjan, was visibly proud of the role that her son played in the reunification of the country.
The moment preceding the historic appeal was a memorable one. The qualification for the Germany World Cup depended so much on the outcome of the Egypt versus Cameroon game played in Yaoundé in October 2005, and broadcast on 'la première', the national TV channel, that in Abidjan, the population, young people mainly, were gathered in front of big screens in local bars called 'maquis'. That game attracted more Ivorians than the match played against Sudan.
When the referee blew his whistle and gave a penalty kick to Cameroon during extra time, in the Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium in Yaoundé, a subdued mood prevailed in Abidjan. 'I did not believe we could go to Germany; our hope nearly vanished when the penalty kick was given to the Cameroonians' said Kouakou Richmond, a devoted supporter of The Elephants. Pierre Wome missed that crucial injury-time penalty and squandered Cameroon's qualifying hopes. The 1-1 draw with Egypt opened the way to the Ivorian squad for the 2006 Germany World Cup. Directly after the match a huge crowd went out onto the streets for the victory parade in Abidjan. Ivory Coast celebrated a historic moment in its sports history, not knowing that another historic moment was in the making.
After defeating Sudan 3-1 and leading Ivory Coast to the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany, Didier Drogba, surrounded by his team mates in the dressing room, fell to his knees, asked all of his teammates to kneel down with him, looked straight into the camera, and begged both warring sides to lay down their arms. 'Citizens of Ivory Coast' he declared, 'from the north, south, centre and west, we beg you on our knees to forgive each other! A great country like Ivory Coast cannot sink into chaos forever. Lay down your weapons and organise elections.' This appeal was broadcast for months by RTI, the state-run TV station.
At the moment of the appeal, no one believed that a football game could be played in Bouaké. Not a week passed without human rights violations being committed here. Violence between the rebel combat units Leopard and Anaconda had generated bloody attacks on civilians and fear among the population.
There were checkpoints all over the towns and soldiers patrolling the streets in pick-up trucks would force passers-by and drivers to pay bribes before giving them permission to carry on. The fear of humiliation and frequent harassment deterred many southerners from moving to Bouaké and the northern part of the country.
However these fears did not stop Didier Drogba. After being named African Player of the year in 2006, Didier Drogba flew with his trophy to Bouaké, the former rebel stronghold about 300 kilometres north of Abidjan, to share his joy with the northern population. 'I am here to show to the whole world that I am one of yours, there should be no distinction between the north, the south, the east, west and centre ... we are the same country,' the Chelsea striker said.
After Drogba's tour in Bouaké, the warring sides' mutual enmity started to dissipate and more Ivorians from the south who had previously been too scared to travel to the north, and northerners too scared to move down south, started to travel across the former buffer zone that used to divide the country in half. 'The rate of personal vehicles and trucks that drove to the north and to the south has considerably increased since Drogba came to Bouaké and since the game was played in Bouaké ... more and more truckers have hauled products from Abidjan to Bouaké and the northern towns of the country,' said Bakayoko Dramane, the Director of OIC (Office Ivoirien des Chargeurs), when asked whether Drogba's visit to Bouaké had had an impact on the political and economical life of the country.
The request of the prodigal son
Back in Abidjan, a few months after his brief stay in Bouaké, the international football star requested that the Africa Nations Cup qualifier against Madagascar be played in Bouaké. Didier Drogba's bold wish was granted by politicians and football authorities. It was the first time since the start of the war that a match was to be played in the north. Didier Drogba would then become, in the eyes of Ivorians, something of a deity. 'I did not believe Didier Drogba could do that. He has cemented the remarkable progress made toward reuniting the country,' said the Forces Nouvelles military chief, Commandant Famoussa Ouattara.
Many of the Ivory Coast's top dignitaries from the south drove to Bouaké to attend the historic match in the packed-to-capacity stadium in the rebel-held town.
Bringing the warring sides together
In the meantime, politicians and leaders of the warring sides had travelled to a number of European and African capitals, signing some 14 peace agreements, but none of these deals signed in Lomé (Togo), Marcoussis (France), Accra (Ghana), Pretoria (South Africa), Paris (France), and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) could bring peace to the country, which remained divided along the buffer zone. Even after President Gbagbo named rebel leader Guillaume Soro as Prime Minister following the Ougadougou Peace Agreement signed in March 2007, the ex-belligerents' mutual enmity did not dissipate.
A single match was able to alter the course of Ivory Coast's history.
The issue of security of the 25,000 capacity stadium
When Drogba requested the Bouaké stadium, a venue unthinkable years ago, to host the Ivory Coast-Madagascar match, the security of both the dignitaries of the south-based regime who wanted to visit the rebel-held town and the whole team came under discussion. Two hundred soldiers from the FDS (the government-loyal army) joined the FAFN (the rebel army) to guarantee the security of the stadium and the town.
'It was amazing,' declared Commandant Attoungbre of the government army. 'It was the first time since the start of the war that the loyalist army had been in the rebel capital; the first time in nearly five years that my troops and rebel forces had been face-to-face in a non-hostile setting ... all this, thanks to a mere football match,' he added, when asked how he felt when he entered Bouaké with his troops to guarantee the security of the match with the soldiers from the rebel army.
Two buses drove The Elephants to the stadium under the escort of armed forces in pick-up trucks. It is difficult to say how many cars, motorcycles and mopeds were in the 'unofficial escort' of The Elephants, but the long row of supporters following Didier Drogba and his teammates gave a carnival allure to the procession; some sat on the roofs of cars, sang, screamed, blew whistles, and waved Ivorian flags, while others, hoping to touch the windows of the car, sprinted along on the grass next to the road.
It was not an easy task for soldiers to contain the fans who tried to scale the fences to run onto the pitch to touch Drogba Didier and of his teammates.
On the pitch: beyond the quest for a mere victory
Before the kick-off, rebel leaders stood alongside government ministers to sing the national anthem. The whistle blew. The 25,000 fans in Bouaké's packed stadium roared at every shot and at each decisive pass.
The Madagascan defence held out for only 18 minutes, and then Salomon Kalou scored a magnificent goal with a header off a perfect cross. The cheers of the supporters filled the stadium to pay tribute to the young Chelsea striker. Kone Aruna netted his first of the day in the 37th minute.
Cheers filled the stadium at each goal scored, but when Drogba scored the fifth and last goal with a few minutes left in the game, the stadium exploded into celebration and went wild with euphoria; several fans jumped the fence near him and sprinted along the sidelines before being caught by the security forces. As I sat on the edge of the pitch, I narrowly escaped being crushed by excited supporters and was deafened by the noise.
When the final whistle blew, some fans ran onto the pitch to get an up-close glimpse of the players, to touch them or to snap a quick photo with their cell phones. The soldiers formed a wall around Didier Drogba and his teammates, who were escorted from the field to the dressing room.
At the end of the game, I met one of the excited fans who were being hustled off the pitch by security forces and heard his real motives for approaching Drogba. 'We northern Ivorians owed a lot to Didier Drogba, who initiated efforts to play the match in Bouaké, split off from the southern Ivory Coast since 2002, I could not believe he would do that ... I wanted to touch his sweaty jersey, to exchange a high five with him,' said Bakayoko Mamadou, draped in the national colours: orange, white and green.
You didn't have to look hard to see that this match was about much more than the victory. There was far more at stake than a mere football game. As captain Drogba acknowledged: 'We all were more concerned with the reunification of our country. I and all the players wanted to bring joy and peace to Ivorians who suffered a lot because of the crisis. I think this was more important than the victory itself.'
At the end of the game, I attended the press conference organized by the Cabinet of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister and top leader of rebel forces, Soro Guillaume, gave an interpretation of the 5-0 score. 'The five-nil score represents five goals to erase five years of suffering ...' he said before the sport journalists gathered in the Hall of RAN Hotel in Bouaké. Louis Andre Dakoury Tabley, another official of the Forces Nouvelles admitted that soccer could do more than any politician to put an end to the civil war: 'It would have taken months and even years for my ministry to achieve what Didier Drogba and his teammates have achieved in 90 minutes'.
The victory celebration
After the match, for the first time ever, rebel soldiers joined their mates from the government and they started to celebrate, not only the victory of Ivory Coast but also the blossoming of peace. They cheered and sang with the crowd throughout the evening.
The city of Bouaké was full of people and noise; drivers hooted their horns and pots and pans were joyously banged by excited fans. The residents of the rebel-held city started to dance the 'Drogbacité', a new dance named in honour of Didier Drogba: they mimed the striker's feints, his turns, and the unleashing of unstoppable shots.
I rang a friend in Abidjan to catch the mood of the celebration. The streets were also crowded and open-air bars called maquis served 'Drogba', a local beer, so called because of its imposing size. The partygoers paraded on the streets all night. The victory of The Elephants was celebrated in both the government-held south and the rebel-held north.
He has becoming like a hero, a legend, a deity
There is no exaggerating Didier Drogba's fame in Ivory Coast. In the eyes of many Ivorians, the international football star has become the symbol of a new post-civil war Ivory Coast and something like a deity. He is the inspiration behind a style of music and the dance known as the 'Drogbacité', and has a street, a beer and a brand of chocolate named after him.
On the roadside and on almost every major street corner, there are giant billboards on which Didier Drogba advertises local products.
The Bock, the popular one-litre beer, is now known as a Drogba because of its imposing size; it has become the bestselling beer in the country. The 'Drogbacité' expresses the gifted player's football skills, his feints, and his shots, in dance moves. It was created by disc jockeys to pay tribute to Drogba. Musicians also wrote many songs about him. A big Ivory Coast telecommunication company called on people to display their 'Drogbacité' or their 'Drogba-ness'. As a response to this appeal, many young Ivorian men dressed like the football star, favouring Drogba's jersey, while young women have a preference for his hair gel.
Drogba is an icon, a great symbol for the whole country. He has inspired people from various distinctive fields of activities and his pivotal role in bringing about peace to the country is still undisputed.
Didier Drogba has been playing an instrumental role in using football as a means of brokering peace in Ivory Coast. Any Ivorian who has experienced the war that split the country and who attended the Ivory Coast-Madagascar game in the former rebel-held town, will answer the questions: 'Can football be used as a catalyst to promote convivial relationships across the lines dividing territories?', 'Can it act as a bridge?', 'Can it bring peace?'with a resounding 'yes'.
In Ivory Coast, the healing of issues related to ethnic identity, exclusion and national reconciliation cannot be attributed to football and to Didier Drogba alone, but one should acknowledge that it is connected with the international football star and his historic appeal.
Louis-Andre Dacoury Tabley, the Ivorian Minister of Solidarity and War Victims, who received me in his office at Plateau, the hub of the capital city, acknowledges football's contribution to the negotiation of unity and a collective identity in Ivory Coast. This top official of Forces Nouvelles (New Forces), the combined former rebel groups, considers the national football team as 'the fragile glue that holds the disparate country together'. He believes that politicians should pay tribute to The Elephants and to Didier Drogba, largely because they have been the cement holding together every effort toward peace in Ivory Coast.
Let's hope it will stay like that.
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