After five years in exile, Tiken Jah Fakoly returned to Ivory Coast on Saturday 8 December, at a concert called "Le retour". Fakoly was welcomed in triumph by nearly 30,000 people at the Parc des sports in Abidjan. He kept up the pace for 2 hours 40 minutes, after performances by Fadel Day, Kajeem, Beta Simon and Ismaël Isaac, alongside whom he performed "Ma Côte d'Ivoire", from his latest album, as a symbol of the country's reconciliation.
It is five years since Tiken Jah Fakoly went into exile in Mali for fear of reprisals. In Abidjan, mysterious death squads were targeting figures opposed to the regime. One of his friends, the actor Camara H., had been found dead in the street in early 2003. Fakoly is currently finishing the construction of a house in the working-class suburb of Youpougon, in the north of Abidjan. But he does not plan to move back for good. He prefers to wait for the next elections, postponed several times, and scheduled for late 2008.