{"id":90395,"date":"2026-02-18T18:51:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T18:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/netherlands-embassy-launches-football-peace-campaign"},"modified":"2026-02-23T18:31:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T18:31:48","slug":"netherlands-embassy-launches-football-peace-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/netherlands-embassy-launches-football-peace-campaign","title":{"rendered":"Netherlands Embassy Launches Football Peace Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Sudan. <\/strong><\/span>The Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to South Sudan, Paul Tholen, on Wednesday launched a nationwide peace campaign in Torit, using football as a tool to promote unity, peace, and hope among young people across the country.<\/p>\n<p>The launch event was attended by officials from Eastern Equatoria State, youth groups, and community leaders, with the state governor, Louise Lobong Lojore, officiating the ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking during the event, Ambassador Tholen said football provides a strong national and social connection, not only among communities within South Sudan but also between South Sudan and the Netherlands. He said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe bring young people from different backgrounds together because we believe in the youth as a powerful driver for a peaceful future in South Sudan. We launched this campaign because football can be unifying, and it shows that peace is a choice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As part of the campaign, the Dutch Embassy has distributed 700 orange footballs across South Sudan and organized three football masterclasses in Torit, Juba, and Bentiu.<\/p>\n<p>More than 4,000 young men and women from diverse communities have participated in the activities and are expected to serve as ambassadors of peace within their respective areas.<\/p>\n<p>Through this initiative, the embassy aims to use sport\u2014especially football\u2014to bring people together across differences and contribute to lasting peace in South Sudan.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">South-Sudan<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Sudan. The Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to South Sudan, Paul Tholen, on Wednesday launched a nationwide peace campaign in Torit, using football as a tool to promote unity, peace, and hope among young people across the country. The launch event was attended by officials from Eastern Equatoria State, youth groups, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":90394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[233],"class_list":["post-90395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-south-sudan"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Netherlands Embassy Launches Football Peace Campaign - South Sudan<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to South Sudan, Paul Tholen, on Wednesday launched a nationwide peace c ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/netherlands-embassy-launches-football-peace-campaign\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Netherlands Embassy Launches Football Peace Campaign\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to South Sudan, Paul Tholen, on Wednesday launched a nationwide peace c ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/netherlands-embassy-launches-football-peace-campaign\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Sudan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-18T18:51:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-23T18:31:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/sites\/32\/2026\/02\/sm_1771433863.682602.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"624\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"407\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/netherlands-embassy-launches-football-peace-campaign#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/netherlands-embassy-launches-football-peace-campaign\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Netherlands Embassy Launches Football Peace Campaign\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-18T18:51:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-23T18:31:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/netherlands-embassy-launches-football-peace-campaign\"},\"wordCount\":234,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/netherlands-embassy-launches-football-peace-campaign#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/sites\/32\/2026\/02\/sm_1771433863.682602.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Sudan\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/netherlands-embassy-launches-football-peace-campaign#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/netherlands-embassy-launches-football-peace-campaign\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/netherlands-embassy-launches-football-peace-campaign\",\"name\":\"Netherlands Embassy Launches Football Peace Campaign - 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