IOC Member Makes Return From Exile

(ATR) IOC member Lassana Palenfo tells Around the Rings he’s happy to return to Ivory Coast to celebrate the inauguration of the nation’s new president and the end of a nine-year exile.

"Of course I will be happy to go back, this is my country. I have everything there," Palenfo told Around the Rings earlier this month ahead of the May 21 inauguration of Alassane Ouattara.

Outtara’s presidency means Palenfo can travel freely again to and from Ivory Coast, "without problem" for the first time since he left Sept. 19, 2002.

A former minister of security, Palenfo was at serious odds with the government of then-president Laurent Gbagbo for trying to topple him in a coup. Only months after his election to the IOC in 2000, Palenfo was jailed. A representative of the IOC even travelled to the Ivory Coast to visit Palenfo in prison and to press for the IOC member’s release.

Once out of prison, Palenfo decamped to Paris while still serving as president of the Ivory Coast NOC and president of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa. He was re-elected to the Ivory Coast NOC post in 2009.

Palenfo turns 70 this year, which lead to his retirementfrom IOC membership.

Palenfo was on hand for the inaugural ceremony in Yamoussoukro, the capitol, attended by about 20 heads of state, including France’s Nicolas Sarkozy.

Ouattara was elected last November by a narrow margin but incumbent Laurent Gbagbo refused to relinquish power. That led the nation into a three-month civil warwhich ended with Gbagbo’s capture in April.

"Let us learn to live together again," said Ouattara in his inaugural speech. He faces the task of re-uniting the country after the civil war and rebuilding the economy. Ouatarra, who served as prime minister in the 1990’s, is an economist.

Palenfo says sport suffered in Ivory Coast during Gbagbo’s presidency.

"If you look back at Athens and Beijing, nearly nothing was done to help Ivorian athletes," he says. "It was only with the help of the IOC and Olympic Solidarity that we were able to get teams together."

In 2004, about a half-dozen athletes competed for Ivory Coast, about the same number for Beijing, plus a men’s football team that qualified for the Olympic tournament.

Palenfo says he believes there will be a new direction for sport in Ivory Coast under the leadership of Ouattara.

"The former government only provided the minimum. That will change with the new government," he says.

"It will become much easier for athletes to train and to travel abroad. There were always visa issues," Palenfo says.

Palenfo, who served as minister of security when Ouattara was prime minister, says he is happy to serve again if called.

"I know him very well. We have a good relationship. He has always supported sport when I was in the government. Sport is all about youth and young people are the future of our country," Palenfo says.

Written by Ed Hula.