The Yei peace tournament is set to kick off Sunday and brings together eight teams including Yei, Lainya, Morobo, Kajo-Keji counties, and teams from Western Equatoria, Upper Nile, Eastern Equatoria, and Bahr-el-Ghazal.
Addressing the teams on Saturday evening, Mustafa Adams, the tournament coordinator from Reconcile International, the main organizer of the tournament said the purpose of the football peace tournament is to bring the youth together to promote peaceful coexistence.
“We have been engaging with the different communities and the youth and we realized that when the conflict broke out from 2016, communities and youth got divided, communities themselves developed serious hatred,” he said. “Through Reconcile International’s intervention, through youth empowerment training we offered, there are lessons we have learned. One of the core things the youth proposed was football to be used to unite different communities, different youth together.”
Daniel Anyak, a player from greater Bahr el Ghazal said the tournament will bring love and stability to the country.
“It is a pleasure for me and my state to participate in this tournament because it is a peaceful league and Reconcile International is trying to bring broken hearts together as one family so that they can make one South Sudan,” Anyak said. “It can bring love and stability to South Sudan.
Malish Boskuba, the head coach of Yei River County, pointed out that the tournament will enable people to leave peacefully.
“Football is a key to peace. We need to play peacefully so that our communities will be able to coexist,” he said.
Meanwhile, John Kenyi Santino, the Yei football association’s secretary urged the communities to support the teams because it is a way of bringing back the glory days in the counties and the country.
“I want to encourage the fans to come and give support. Let them cheer and let us coexist to bring the glory days of South Sudan back,” he said. “Before 2016, Yei used to be one of the main centers of peace in South Sudan, it used to host a lot of communities and that is why we want to recreate the glory days of Yei, we want them back.”
The tournament will run for 8 days with the opening fixture between Yei county and Western Equatoria State.