The funeral of Ugandan athlete Rebecca Cheptegei, who was doused in petrol and set on fire by her partner in early September in Kenya a few weeks after running the marathon at the Paris Olympics, has begun in Uganda, in the presence of her family and officials.
The 33-year-old athlete died of her serious and multiple injuries on September 5 after being attacked on September 1 by her partner in Kenya, where she lived and trained.
Her attacker, Dickson Ndiema Marangach, 32, doused her with petrol before setting her on fire. He himself was seriously burned and died in a Kenyan hospital on Monday.
Rebecca Cheptegei’s death has sparked an international outpouring of tributes and outrage. Human rights activists have denounced this latest femicide in Kenya, where two other athletes, Agnes Tirop and Damaris Mutua, have been killed and their respective partners accused of the murders, since 2021.
On Saturday morning, relatives of the Ugandan athlete, residents and officials waited in the morning cold to pay their last respects in the village of Bukwo where her family lives, some 380 kilometers northeast of the capital Kampala.
The ceremony to honour the memory of the athlete, who was also a sergeant in the Ugandan army, began at 10:00 a.m. local time with a gathering of family members and officials at the local town hall.
“A heroine”
According to funeral organizers, the athlete’s body will then be transported from the city hall to a stadium where the population can pay their respects. Then Rebecca Cheptegei will be buried, at around 3:00 p.m. local time.
On Friday, the athlete’s relatives in Kenya gathered to honour her memory around her coffin in the western town of Eldoret, in the Rift Valley – the heart of the country’s athletics – and close to where she lived.
His remains then crossed the border between Kenya, the African athletics power, and Uganda late Friday afternoon.
“We are extremely sad,” commented Simon Ayeko, Rebecca’s ex-husband, with whom she had two daughters, on Friday.
“As a father, it has been very difficult,” he added, explaining that he had not yet been able to tell his children the news. “Little by little, we will tell them the truth.”
Epidemic of femicides
Dozens of athletes travelled to the small Ugandan village to attend the ceremony and pay tribute to the woman who finished 44th in the marathon at the Paris Olympics on August 11.
“She contributed greatly to the promotion of athletics until her last days,” Alex Malinga, who coached her when she was a teenager, told AFP.
According to local media, Ms Cheptegei’s daughters witnessed the attack. Police said Mr Marangach broke into her home while she was at church with her children.
Ms Cheptegei’s family say the couple had been fighting over the property where she lived with her sister and daughters. “I think by that time their relationship had deteriorated,” Moses Kipsiro, Ms Cheptegei’s brother-in-law, told AFP.
“I didn’t know anything was wrong,” said Mr Kipsiro, who is from Bukwo and trained with Rebecca Cheptegei.
The brutal killing has once again highlighted what human rights activists call an epidemic of femicide in the East African country of Kenya. The country has reported 725 cases in 2022 alone, according to the UN.
A report released the following year by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics found that the proportion of women aged 15-49 who had experienced physical violence since the age of 15 was 34%.