1000’s of mourners in Uganda paid their respects on Saturday to Rebecca Cheptegei, the Olympic athlete who died final week in Kenya after her companion set her on fireplace. The army funeral occurred in a distant city close to the Kenyan border.
Army officers performed a distinguished position within the funeral as a result of Cheptegei held the rank of sergeant in Uganda’s military, stated 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 1000’s in a sport subject within the district of Bukwo.
“As a nation, we are indeed in a black and dark moment,” stated Ajilong B Modestar, the Bukwo resident district commissioner. “We condemn in the strongest terms the manner in which Rebecca died … We should not continue battering women in this manner.”
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.
In accordance with a report filed by the native chief, they quarrelled over a bit 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 road march by dozens of activists within the western Kenyan city of Eldoret who demanded an finish to violence in opposition to feminine athletes.
Cheptegei is the fourth feminine athlete to have been killed by her companion in Kenya in a worrying sample of gender-based violence in recent times. Kenya’s excessive charges of violence in opposition to girls have prompted a number of marches this 12 months.
Ugandan officers have condemned the assault, demanding justice for Cheptegei. First woman 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, stated in a press release on X that the assault was “a cowardly and senseless act that has led to the loss of a great 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 companion, based on the 2022 Kenya Demographic and Well being Survey.
Many Ugandan athletes practice throughout the border in Kenya, an athletics powerhouse with higher services. A number of the area’s finest runners practice 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.
