Drogba to help heal Ivory Coast
Ivorian soccer star Didier Drogba has promised to get involved in the reconciliation process in Ivory Coast where a post election conflict left 3,000 people dead last year.
The 34-year-old former Chelsea talisman was named as member of a national reconciliation commission (CDVR), which has been tasked with reconciling hostile ethnic groups and party militants.
“Football is a factor of rapprochement between people from diverse sociopolitical background and I think it can help in uniting Ivorians once again after the crisis,” the two-time African footballer of the year said on Monday.
“We need to change our mentalities and learn to accept, love and tolerate each other despite our differences in order for us to live together in peace,” he added.
Drogba, who is responsible for the Ivorian diaspora within the commission, said he would soon be holding talks with youths and adults from different political parties and ethnic groups to promote the culture of peace and tolerance.
Drogba is from southern Ivory Coast and of the Bete tribe where the country’s imprisoned ex-leader Laurent Gbagbo hails from. However, the former Marseille ace has become a national hero and household name in the West African country.
