World Tour: Uganda buries an Olympic athlete

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: World Tour with our reporter in Africa, Onize Oduah.

AUDIO: [Funeral hymn]

Uganda athlete’s burial — We take off today in Uganda at the funeral of an Olympic athlete.

Thirty-three-year-old Rebecca Cheptegei died from severe burns this month after her Kenyan former boyfriend doused her in gasoline.

Authorities said Cheptegei had just returned from church with her two daughters when the suspect—Dickson Ndiema Marangach—confronted her over a piece of land she bought in Kenya.

Marangach also died days later from his burns.

AUDIO: [Salute]

Cheptegei was also a sergeant in the Ugandan army and received a gun salute at her funeral.

She marks the third female athlete killed in Kenya since 2021.

Many Ugandan athletes train in neighboring Kenya to access better training facilities.

Joshua Cheptegei—an unrelated Olympian—said Rebecca influenced many people.

CHEPTEGEI: Rebecca had a following, especially being an athlete, an icon, and there are young people, and even the elderly who looked up to her.

Weeks before her death, Cheptegei recently competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics, finishing in 44th place.

AUDIO: [Floodwaters]

Myanmar flooding — Over in Myanmar—also known as Burma—residents are still reeling after Typhoon Yagi struck several Asian countries.

The storm brought floods and landslides that have killed more than 500 people across Burma, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand.

In Burma alone, more than 200 people have died. Authorities said the storm has also displaced more than 320,000 people in the country.

An ongoing civil war that began three years ago had already displaced millions of people. The flood waters also washed out temporary homes at a displacement camp in eastern Karen state.

Belto—one of the camp’s residents—witnessed the disaster.

BELTO: [Speaking Burmese]

He says here that the floodwaters took away his home while his sister was inside.

Other regions are also battling with flooding. Storm Boris drenched Central and Eastern Europe while floods displaced thousands in Cameroon. And in Nigeria’s northeast Borno state, heavy rainfall caused a poorly managed dam to overflow, affecting about one million people.

AUDIO: [Chanting protesters]

Mexico protests — And in the Mexican city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, tens of thousands of Christians marched Friday to demand an end to violence.

Catholic leaders organized the inter-denominational “Pilgrim’s March for Peace.”

The churches in a joint statement said they wanted to stand up for victims who were murdered for not collaborating with criminals.

Back in May, 11 Christians were murdered after speaking against illegal exploitation at a mining site. The area has seen growing gang violence near its border with Guatemala.

Victor Hugo was one of the Roman Catholic priests who attended the march.

HUGO: [Speaking Spanish]

He says here that it’s important to work for a culture of peace in the state.

AUDIO: [Sound of traffic]

Germany border checks — We wrap up in Germany where police officers started wider border checks this week.

The extended checks now include shared borders with Belgium, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.

It will last for an initial six months.

The measure comes as Germany has grappled with a series of extremist attacks in recent weeks.

Daniel Rosin is the German police spokesman.

ROSIN: [Speaking German]

He says here that the measure will limit illegal immigration and combat migrant smuggling.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser asked travelers to carry identification while traveling as she promised to minimize the effects of the new checks on people living and working in border regions.

That’s it for this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Oduah in Abuja, Nigeria.

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