A member of the party of exiled Ivory Coast politician Guillaume Soro says Soro is ready to return home if the government can guarantee his safety. Soro, a former prime minister, was convicted and sentenced in absentia to 20 years for destabilizing the Ivorian government. He is currently in Niger where he has been granted asylum. The Ivory Coast government says Soro is free to return. President Alassane Ouattara pardoned and ordered the release of 51 people convicted of treason and other crimes on Thursday. The French news agency AFP reports that those pardoned included Kone Kamarate Souleymane, the head of protocol when Soro served as Prime Minister of Ivory Coast. Saibou Sidibe, a member of Soro’s Generation and People in Solidarity (GPS) party, tells VOA’s James Butty, it welcomes the pardons.