Sport for Peace: It is time To Disarm the “Brains and the Mentality” of Youths in South Sudan

It is time To Disarm the “Brains and the Mentality” of Youths before Taking Away Firearms

By Ariik Atekdit, Juba, South Sudan

Thursday, November 25, 2021 (PW) — Lou Ariik Football Association (LAFA) is organizing a league, Lou Ariik Football Federation during this Festive period where 6 big football clubs in the area will be competing over the cup. The winners of the cup will go away with them, hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese pounds and several other awards. 

The uniqueness of this activity is that Lou Ariik Football Federation is incorporated with awareness, sensitization and peacebuilding campaigns both in the villages and in the cattle camps. Before the game kick up cattle camp youths and community leaders will be engaged and be part of the trainingson peaceful co-existence and the harmfulness of the cattle rustling to the pastoralists themselves and the entire community & country. 

For the last 1.5 decades since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), South Sudan got dragged into several communal wars that turned out to be so deadly. With so many militiamen getting integrated into their own communities and the official absorption of gelweng armed youths into normal social settings as many conflicts got instigated with strong armed forces available to fight in the local communities; fitting sections against sections, ethnicities against ethnicities and region against region.  There is a situation wanting a solution to safeguard the safety of the people, their properties and the development. 

It is time to do more awareness and sensitization of peacebuilding campaigns in the cattle camps among the armed youths (the gelweng). From the time arming youth began during the liberation period, there has been no any meaningful campaigns and sensitization done to discourage the use of firearms by the untrained people after the end of the then civil war. This has made trials for disarmaments so difficult, and security threatening and fragile in the past and still today because the community is not made aware of the harmfulness of the firearms to themselves. 

In our view as Lou Ariik Youth Forum we think the reason behind all these chaos is not just a choice by the people to continue to cause conflicts to themselves but it is a lack of engagements among youths in the local communities. 

Lou Ariik Football Association (LAFA) is established with the spirit to inspire the local and rural community with sport for peacebuilding programming in villages across Lou Ariik area and make youth to compete in a football peace tournament.  

LAFA as a new sports body believes that sports is an essential part of the socio-economic growth of a community. Regular and active participation in different sports improves the health of the entire community, reduces mental stress, and gives rise to great leaders. Sports can even lead to ceasefires in war and entice the spirit of unity among the people.  

The Republic of South Sudan with its existing Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports believes that football activities with many other different games available in the country can be used as a means for leisure and uniting the population of South Sudan to build the spirit of peaceful co-existence among the communities and more especially those at rural areas. 

We are aiming to engulf the whole of Tonj North Communities with sport for peace program and peacebuilding awareness and sensitizations among all the football spectators who will be coming to watch our games. 

It is out of this basis that LAFA was born to assist the country to advocate for togetherness and forge peaceful and non-violent means to engage the younger generation in positive and nonaggressive competitions among youths. LAFA wants to invest on the younger generation to realize their talents and to use those talents to benefit the local population and transform the society to be nonviolent community and have meaningful unity of purpose. 

With LAFA the key role of sports in peacebuilding is the integrative process; bringing people from different villages in the context of Lou Ariik area and beyond. It remains as one of the standing responsibility that LAFA shall continue to organize youths and players in the area to encourage external competitions if the internal League succeeds. 

LAFA is the football organization organizing the football tournament which we have named as Lou Ariik Football Federation. So the football federation shall begin towards the end of December and continues to earlier January because the road leading to the village is still now covered by water. 

We are intending to mobilize our local population especially the cattle keepers and armed youths and sensitize them on the disadvantages of cattle raiding and the ownership of guns. The government of South Sudan think to disarm the guns as the solution but we see to it that it is much more better to disarm their brains and mentality so that they get to know the harmfulness of having guns with them. This is part of our objectives. 

As of now 6 Football clubs have confirmed their participation in Lou Ariik Football Federation. And the clubs include: 1. Akook Football Club; 2. Awakou United Football Club; 3. Longkap Football Club; 4. Thattikmoc Football Club; 5. Liil United Football Club; 6. Mila Football Club

We have so far mobilized money to buy for customized jerseys (sport clothes) for each team and other sport materials. We have so far sent home 12 footballs for practice and training of players in the village before the game start. We have also sent home coaches to prepare for us the field that shall be used for game and our modern goalposts and nets will soon arrive from Juba to the village. 

After conducting Lou Ariik Football Federation, LAFA will immediately influence the greater Tonj Youth body and local government to organize Tonj North Tournament for Peace; and as we do this our campaigns against the exercise of cattle rustling shall continue. We have enough workforce who have volunteered to work for peace in the villages and in the cattle camps. 

Lou Ariik Football Federation is “Using sports and talents to bridge the gap among the communities”

The author, Ariik Atekdit, is the Chief Information Officer for Lou Ariik Football Association. He can be reached via his email address @ Atekdit Mawien: ariqdudic@gmail.com

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