Worldscene: When Ivory Coast line out this afternoon to face Nigeria in their African Cup of Nations semi-final at the Harras El-Hedoud Stadium in Alexandria, they may well be playing for more than just a place in next Friday's final in Cairo. Put simply, the Ivory Coast players may also be playing for the cause of peace in their civil-war torn homeland.

After Ivory Coast, along with host country Egypt, had qualified from their first-round group last week, the side's star striker, Didier Drogba of Chelsea, went on national television to tell his countrymen that the players had promised to "bring back peace to our country", adding: "Excuse me, but put down the guns! Let's reconcile!"

Ivory Coast has been volatile and bitterly divided ever since a bloody civil war in 2002-2003 that left the country split into a government-run south and rebel-held north.

Currently, there are about 7,000 UN peacekeepers, 700 international police officers and a 4,000 strong French military force all based in Ivory Coast, trying to maintain a shaky peace agreement.

On Sunday, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on the Security Council to swiftly approve a temporary build-up of further peacekeeping troops, arguing that the UN was concerned about new threats to its personnel and also about reports of "violent demonstrations and attacks".

Last month, too, there were anti-UN riots in the south of the country as protestors loyal to President Laurent Gbagbo attacked UN bases, vehicles and staff, demanding the withdrawal of UN and French peacekeepers, whom they accuse of meddling in Ivorian internal affairs.

In a practical sense, it might seem that there is little football can do about Ivory Coast's civil-war tensions.

Yet, as Drogba's words to his compatriots last week underlined, the players and their French coach Henri Michel know all too well that Ivory Coast success could promote more than just a temporary bout of the "feel-goods".

Last autumn, the team pulled off an historic first ever World Cup qualification, prompting President Gbagbo to publicly express the hope that football could become an example of national unity: "The team's qualification for the World Cup . . . is a magic moment where we find ourselves united in the streets of Abidjan and in all the towns of the country to celebrate a long-awaited victory".

Despite the tensions, reports from Ivory Coast claim that many of the country's war-divided population have, at least temporarily, set aside their political differences to unite behind the football team. If excitement was high, following that first round qualification, it touched fever pitch following Ivory Coast's remarkable quarter-final triumph over Cameroon.

In the highest scoring penalty shoot-out in international football history, Ivory Coast beat Cameroon 12-11 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. All 22 players converted from the spot before Samuel Eto'o of Barcelona, taking his second penalty of the shoot-out, sent the 23rd spot kick over the bar.

At that point, up stepped Drogba to score and send Ivory Coast into today's semi-final. Back in Ivory Coast, thousands poured into the streets, north and south, to celebrate.

Coach Michel, of course, has been here before. Formerly coach to France, Cameroon and Morocco, the urbane Michel is a member of that Francophonic band of "old hands" in African football: "Right now, we're heroes back in Ivory Coast but if we had lost to Cameroon, all hell would have broken loose. There's no sense of proportions in football anywhere, but in Africa it's much worse . . . Everything's great now, everyone's having a party and I'm glad because people have suffered too much in recent years . . . the only moments of happiness they have had have been from football"

Given the current widespread anti-French sentiment, Michel himself opted to leave his base in Abidjan and set up in Beirut from where he has handled the Ivory Coast's highly successful campaign. Michel knows only too well that, in football terms at least, "the toughest is yet to come, we've proved nothing yet".

Against Nigeria, a traditional powerhouse of African football, Ivory Coast get the chance not just to prove that their World Cup qualification was no fluke but also, more importantly, to offer their compatriots another day to celebrate.

After that, who knows, it could be a clash in Friday's final with the winners of the Egypt v Senegal clash, due to be played this evening at the Cairo International Stadium.