Thousands of mourners in Uganda paid tribute to Rebecca Cheptegei, the Olympic athlete who died last week in Kenya after her partner set her on fire during a military funeral in a remote town near the Kenyan border.
Military officers played a significant role in the funeral as Cheptegei held the rank of sergeant in the Ugandan army, military spokesman Brigadier General Felix Kulayigye said, adding that she deserved a “salvo of honour befitting her rank”.
Athletes, family members and others delivered their eulogies to thousands of people at a sports ground in Bukwo district.
Cheptegei, who was 33, will be buried later Saturday.
AP
THE Man accused of setting her on fire dies in Kenyan hospital from the burns he suffered in the incident. Dickson Ndiema died at Moi Teaching Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya, where Cheptegei also died several days after suffering burns in the dispute with her former boyfriend, which allegedly involved land.
Neighbors reported hearing voices before seeing Ndiema pour gasoline on Cheptegei as she returned from church with her two daughters on August 31. He, too, was seriously injured in the attack and succumbed to complications from burns in the hospital’s intensive care unit, a hospital official said Tuesday.
“He developed respiratory failure as a result of severe airway burns and sepsis which led to his death,” Philip Kirwa, the hospital’s CEO, said in a statement.
Cheptegei suffered burns to more than 80 percent of her body and died on September 5 from multiple organ failure. Police confirmed they were still investigating the incident.
The horrific petrol attack has shocked many and reinforced calls for protection for female runners facing exploitation and abuse in the East African country.
Cheptegei’s body was returned to Uganda on Friday in a somber procession following a street march by dozens of activists in the western Kenyan town of Eldoret who demanded an end to physical violence against female athletes.
Cheptegei is the fourth female athlete to be killed by her partner in Kenya, amid worrying gender-based violence in recent years. High rates of violence against women in Kenya have led to several marches this year.
Ugandan authorities condemned the attack and called for justice for Cheptegei. First lady Janet Museveni, who is also Uganda’s education and sports minister, called the attack “deeply disturbing.”
Don Rukare, chairman of the Uganda National Sports Council, said in a statement on X that the attack was “a cowardly and senseless act that led to the loss of a great athlete.”
A 2023 report from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics found that 34% of women had experienced physical violence after the age of 15, with women who were or had been married almost twice as likely to report such violence.
Many Ugandan athletes train across the border in Kenya, a country with better sports facilities. Some of the region’s top runners train together at a high-altitude centre in western Kenya.
The city of Paris said it wants to honor Cheptegeiwhose death occurred less than a month after participating in the women’s marathon in Paris Olympic Games and finished 44th.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo on Friday proposed that the city name a sports stadium after her. The proposal will be discussed by city officials in October.
