Hundreds of mourners in Uganda paid their respects on Saturday to Rebecca Cheptegei, the Olympic athlete who died final week in Kenya after her associate set her on fireplace. The army funeral came about in a distant city close to the Kenyan border.
Army officers performed a outstanding function within the funeral as a result of Cheptegei held the rank of sergeant in Uganda’s military, mentioned army spokesperson Brig Felix Kulayigye, including that she deserved a “gun salute that befits her rank”.
Athletes, relations and others delivered their eulogies earlier than hundreds in a sport area within the district of Bukwo.
“As a nation, we’re certainly in a black and darkish second,” mentioned Ajilong B Modestar, the Bukwo resident district commissioner. “We condemn within the strongest phrases the style through which Rebecca died … We must always not proceed battering girls on this method.”
Cheptegei, who was 33, was buried at her father’s homestead.
She died after her physique suffered 80% burns within the assault by Dickson Ndiema, who doused her in petrol at her residence in western Kenya’s Trans-Nzoia County on 3 September. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his physique and later succumbed to his accidents.
Based on a report filed by the native chief, they quarrelled over a chunk of land the athlete purchased in Kenya.
The horrific assault shocked many and strengthened requires the safety of feminine runners dealing with exploitation and abuse within the east African nation.
Cheptegei’s physique was returned to Uganda on Friday in a sombre procession after a avenue march by dozens of activists within the western Kenyan city of Eldoret who demanded an finish to violence towards feminine athletes.
Cheptegei is the fourth feminine athlete to have been killed by her associate in Kenya in a worrying sample of gender-based violence in recent times. Kenya’s excessive charges of violence towards girls have prompted a number of marches this 12 months.
Ugandan officers have condemned the assault, demanding justice for Cheptegei. First girl Janet Museveni, who additionally serves as Uganda’s training and sports activities minister, described the assault as “deeply disturbing”.
Don Rukare, chairman of the Nationwide Council of Sports activities of Uganda, mentioned in a press release on X that the assault was “a cowardly and mindless act that has led to the lack of a terrific athlete”.
4 in 10 girls, or an estimated 41% of courting or married Kenyan girls, have skilled bodily or sexual violence perpetrated by their present or most up-to-date associate, in response to the 2022 Kenya Demographic and Well being Survey.
Many Ugandan athletes prepare throughout the border in Kenya, an athletics powerhouse with higher services. Among the area’s greatest runners prepare collectively at a high-altitude centre in Kenya’s west.
Cheptegei competed within the girls’s marathon on the Paris Olympics, ending in forty fourth place, lower than a month earlier than the assault. She had additionally represented Uganda at different competitions.
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