War striken Cote d’Ivoire hoping for a soccer miracle

Soccer is one of the few unifying factors in war-striken Cote d’Ivoire, and the players on the national team hope their appearance at the World Cup will help the peace process at home.

The Elephants go to Germany hoping that a good perfomance at the World cup finals will bring people back home a little closer together.

Bonaventure Kalou the Cote d’Ivoire and Paris Saint-Germain midfielder doesn’t believe soccer will reunify the country but believes it might allow the people a moment of rapproachment and help create a climate where the conflict engulfing the country can be resolved.

During the African Nations Cup 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.

Cote d’Ivoire tumbled into conflict in 2003 and despite a series of peace deals remains divided between an insurgent-controlled north and a government-patrolled south.

Elections are scheduled for later this year and tensions are high in Cote d’Ivoire, where 10,000 UN and French peacekeepers patrol front lines and keep apart the warring factions.

Essential services across the rebel-held north are crumbling and the south is rocked periodically by political unrest or ethnic strife. Many civic organizations, like soccer teams and training groups, have withered under the pressure.

Assistant coach Alain Gouamene expects his team to put up a good showing and believes they are outsiders and have nothing to lose which would allow the team to go out and play as well as they can.

Ivorians hope their team will give them something solid to rally around, and Gouamene wants to give it to them — and help build potential soccer players for Ivory Coast’s uncertain future.