Burkina / social cohesion in the Sahel: FDS and civilian populations unite around football

The Sahel Regional Youth Council organized from August 12 to 26 in Dori, a football tournament called ” Djamtan Laafi Bala”, (a mixture of Fulfulde and Moore meaning peace) during which the Defense and Security Forces (FDS) and civilians communed around football, it was noted.

The president of the Sahel Regional Youth Council Fayssal Maiga immediately indicated that the football tournament called “Djamtan Laafi Bala ” was organized to strengthen social cohesion between the FDS and the civilian populations.

“There are events that have contributed to accentuating the climate of mistrust between the FDS and the civilian populations. It was our responsibility to find a framework to allow the FDS to work in serenity but also to allow the populations to continue to trust them. Thus, through the collaboration and the union of all, we must deal with the most urgent thing which is to help our FDS to fight the forces of evil”, he explained.

To do this, 16 teams, including 5 from the FDS, took part in the tournament for two weeks on the grounds of the provincial high school in Dori. At the end of the two weeks of competition, the final pitted the Panamanian team against that of Iceland.

The final was won by the Panama team by the score of 2 goals to 0. She won the trophy, a set of jerseys, two balls and the sum of 100,000 FCFA. As for the finalist team, namely Iceland, it consoled itself with the sum of 75,000 FCFA, a set of jerseys and a ball.

Third place went to the Casamance team who won an envelope of 50,000 FCFA plus a ball. For its part, AS Police, which took fourth place, settled for the sum of 25,000 FCFA plus a ball.

The two captains expressed their gratitude to the organizers of the tournament which allowed them to rub shoulders with the FDS for two weeks in order to break down the barriers of mistrust. To hear them, the victory belongs to the Sahelian youth who must be resilient to better support the FDS in their missions of securing the territory.

The secretary general of the Sahel region Abdoul-Karim Zongo said he was amazed by the football talents he was able to observe during the two weeks of competitions. For him, the objectives of the tournament were largely achieved insofar as the whole of the Defense and Security Forces (FDS) and the civilian populations, in particular the young people, united around football.

Source: Burkina Information Agency