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Tuareg rebels have been fighting Mali's army in the north, uprooting thousands
By George Fominyen
If Mali’s national soccer team, the Eagles, beat Ivory Coast this Wednesday in Libreville, they will qualify for the final of the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time since 1972.
But it’s not just about sporting glory. The players hope a win could help unite a country that is threatened by disintegration.
Tuareg rebels who say they want independence for Azawad – Mali’s three northern regions of Kidal, Timbuktu and Gao - have been fighting the national army since mid-January.
"I'm appealing to the people to stop. It's not normal, we don't do that. We need peace, we are all Malians," Seydou Keita, the team’s star who plays for Spain’s FC Barcelona,told a news conference on Sunday after Mali reached the semi-finals, beating host Gabon on penalties.
"The president of the republic needs to do the most he can to stop it. We are celebrating our win but at the same time we feel very sad. There is a sadness among the players," he said before breaking down in tears.
Fighting has continued in the north, with the United Nations saying over 20,000 people have fled the region to seek refuge in neighbouring Niger, Mauritania and Burkina Faso. Meanwhile, hundreds of Tuaregs have headed north after riots and attacks against them in the capital Bamako.
So far, Keita’s appeal doesn’t seem to have made much of an impact.
But research on sport and conflict resolution, as well as the experience of Mali’s semi-final opponents, the Elephants of Ivory Coast, have shown footballers can help bring peace and unity to a divided nation.
IVORY COAST SETS AN EXAMPLE
Between 2002 and 2007, Ivory Coast was divided between a rebel-held north and a government-controlled south with fierce tensions over issues of nationality and who was a true Ivorian. One of the few things that managed to unite the people was football, according to the book Africa United by British journalist Steve Bloomfield.
“Les Elephants are not just a football team,” Bloomfield wrote. “To many, they are the men who helped to end the war,” he said, in reference to the first Ivory Coast civil war.
That peace, cemented by the Elephants when they played a match in Bouake in rebel-controlled territory in 2007, was broken after presidential elections in November 2010.
Former President Laurent Gbagbo refused to concede defeat to the internationally recognised winner of the poll, Alassane Ouattara. The decision led to a four-month conflict that killed over 3,000 people and forced close to a million from their homes until Gbagbo's capture by French-backed troops loyal to Ouattara.
The footballers may not have ended that conflict, but they were regarded as so influential that team captain and icon Didier Drogba was appointed to the truth and reconciliation commission set up to heal the bruises from those devastating months of war.
And as they play at the Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, the Ivorian team members are aware of their role in forging a strong national identity.
“Football, especially in our country, is a uniting factor that creates social cohesion and togetherness,” Francois Zahoui, the team’s head coach, was quoted as saying by Afrik.com.
“We feel the people's support, we are aware of what it means to them. And we want to bring them the trophy,” he said.
Keita and his Eagles team-mates are surely hoping too that a victory over Ivory Coast - and eventually perhaps lifting the winners’ trophy - could help foster the unity they so crave for Mali.
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