The youth in Jur River County in Western Bahr el Ghazal State on Sunday marked South Sudan’s Independence Day anniversary, 9 July, with a friendly football competition in Kuajiena Payam.
The football competition which ended 3-1 in favor of the host payam, brought together youth from the three Jur River County payams of Kuajiena, Mbili, and Alur respectively.
Addressing the players after the games, the Kuajiena Payam youth leader, Mawien Bol, said sports activities champion peace and unity among the youth.
“I am very happy about the competition that happened today (Sunday) between the three payams of Jur River County. The competition shows that there is peace among the youth here and other youth across the country should emulate this and stop all forms of violence,” he said. “The competition was good and ended peacefully. Our motor is “Youth together for peace” and the peace that we are now enjoying is what brought our youth from town to come and play with us.”
A youth from Kuajiena Payam, Angelo Anei, said the competition also attracted youth from Pagol in Tonj North County of Warrap State.
“This competition has shown that people always come together for peace and that peace unites us and keeps people together. This area was in conflict from 2016 up to 2019 and now you are seeing people gathering here peacefully. Peace starts from you and your neighbor,” Anei said. “We played because we are brothers and sisters. As you see, these are not people from Kuajiena Payam alone and some even came from Warrap State to attend because we invited them to attend the Independence Day.”
Meanwhile, Joseph Wek, the organizer of the football competition, congratulated the youth for being peaceful during the games.
“I am so happy by the outcome of the games although us who came from town were defeated,” he said. “The aim of today’s competition is to unify the youth of the three payams of Alur, Kuajiena, and Mbili.”