Ugandan Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei set on fire in apparent gender-based attack • FRANCE 24 English

thanks very much for staying with us time now for I on Africa with me Georgia Calvin Smith tonight Ugandan Olympian Rebecca chap is in intensive care with 80% burns after her partner dumped stuck into her home and dumped petrol on her in K Kenya also Dr congales authorities confirmed that 129 people were killed and women were raped amongst a chaotic breakout attempt in the capital in the early hours of Monday and Ugandan opposition leader Bobby Wes injured in the city of Bindu is Camp accused police of having shot him in the leg they claim though that he hurt himself getting out of a [Music] car but first Ugandan distance Runner Rebecca chapay is currently in intensive care in Kenya after her boyfriend DED her in petrol and set her on fire at her home in enderis the 33-year-old had not long ago returned from the Paris Olympics where she'd placed 44th in her event she's reportedly sustained over 80% Burns in the attack our Bastian Reni brings us more from Nairobi Rea chap is in a critical condition she's currently hospitalized in eldoret a town where many International athletes train according to the police at least 75% of her body was burnt after she was allegedly attacked by her former boyfriend according to the police several neighbors witnessed the attack they said that they first heard an argument between the two before seeing man appearing liquid on a Chap's body and burning her the circumstances of this attack are still unclear but according to several local sources there was an ongoing dispute about a land and house that she recently bought in the region to live nearby her training center an investigation is ongoing it's not the first time that an attack against a female athlete occurs in the country in 2022 the Mutua was Stronger to death and a year before Agnes tup was killed she was stabbed several times in 2021 the main suspect her husband is yet to be judged three years later oh basan renui there for us now uh bua Tina who will be a familiar face to those viewers who've been following our Africa at the Olympics and Par Olympics coverage joins me now and Bela You Were Meant to today really just take is through some of the achievements of African athletes at the Paro Olympics but this story has really hit so many who've been following the games and sports in general so hard and you were telling me earlier that you think that incidents like this grimly reflect a far greater problem please please expand on that absolutely you know I usually hit you with a little something colorful but I'm wearing black in in a sense of mourning because this is an absolute travesty and a continuation of an ugly growing Trend um I speak um for as an African man to say 34% of women in Kenya experience abuse from the age of 15 onwards now uh these are well um sort of sourced stats so not something that we are making up um I must take off my journalistic hat at this stage and speak as a brother uh and as a son because one day I fear it will be my sister it will be my mother enough is enough now we condemn it um as working professionals and certainly my contemporaries that I know say no more in Africa and I I'll finish off uh saying this on this travesty of a matter is that I as an African man am no and not separate from the problem is that this problem is me and I am the problem so we want to say that these men and the likes of Dixon and dma who has been accused of this heinous act are not part of the team we condemn it from on high as African men I am in South Africa where the stats stats are not much better so not going to be sanctimonious about my own country it is a grim Grim Day um for a wonderful wonderful representative of Uganda and um training out of Kenya so I must say that this is an absolutely Dark Day in what is meant to be a celebratory period for the world at the Olympics and Par Olympics thank you so much for those very strong uh words B tin do stay with us we will still as originally planned before we heard about what happened to Rebecca chep be coming back to a little later on in the in the program for a Roundup of what's been happening from the continent on the par Olympics but again thank you so much for giving us that very personal insight to uh what appears to have happened to uh the to chap well moving on though uh a day after an attempted Jailbreak in Dior Congo and authorities have confirmed that at least 129 people were killed overnight into Monday rapes were also reported amongst the violence that happened at the overcrowded maalla prison in kinasa emit Livingston joins us now with more prisoners in kinshasa's notoriously hellish Main Jail known informly as Malala attempted to escape on mass in the early hours of Monday morning but the attempt turned brutally violent with dozens of inmates ending up killed images that circulated on social media showed dead bodies heaped in the courtyard of the prison at first Congo's government didn't communicate the death toll and promised to investigate very early on Tuesday morning however the interior Minister gave a preliminary assessment confirming the very worst fears about the scale of the violence the provisional death toll stands at 129 dead 24 of whom were shot after being warned the others were killed by stampede or Suffocation and some women were raped the committee has also identified 59 wounded people for whom the government is currently providing appropriate care in terms of property we can demn the fire in the administrative buildings the registry the infirmary and the food stores the interior Ministry also said that the prisoners had used an angle grinder they stole during a power cut to try to pierce the prison's walls and it admitted that overcrowding contributed to the massive loss of life the incident will be deeply embarrassing to Congo's government and especially its Justice Minister Kon muta who promised to tackle malala's dire conditions just weeks after taking office prisons in Congo are dire at the best of times but maala has a grim reputation as being nearly unbearable originally built to hold hundreds of prisoners the jail currently holds about 15,000 according to official figures rights activists have documented incidents of inmates starving to death and even suffocating inside the densely packed cells the party of Ugandan opposition leader Bobby wine accuses police of having shot him in the leg in bindo in the center of the country images of the injured 42-year-old have appeared across social media but security forces claim that he stumbled and hurt himself getting out of a car wine un unsuccessfully challenged longtime leader Yari mvan for the presidency in 2021 and over his political career has often been the victim of intimidation and arrests Regional correspondent clemont deroma brings us more Ugandan opposition leader Bobby wine the main Challenger to president Yi musin he was injured in bindo a subur of the Capital Cala according to his party was hit in the leg by a projectile fired by the police after visiting one of his lawyers and he is now being treated by doctors the national Unity platform claims that police and military forces surrounded surrounded their vehicles and fired live bullets as well as tear gas canisters the Ugandan police said in a statement that an investigation will be conducted that officers on the Sid claimed the opposition leader stumbled and injured himself after provoking a procession and blocking a main road a failed presidential candidates in the 2021 elections Bobby wi and his party frequently clash with the police but this is the first time the opposition leader has sustained such an injury last January was placed under house arrest at his as his party prepared for protests against the government in October 2023 he was briefly detained along with hundreds of protesters Upon returning from an international tour to gain support in Western Country R last year some of his rallies were banned during his tour of Uganda as he prepared for the 2026 elections in which he hopes to replace president moani who has been in power since 1986 well some of the victims of a devastating attack in Nigeria yobi State have been buried at least 81 people were killed and several others are still missing after Sunday's raid by suspected boa Haram extremists local police have speculated that the violence may have been in Revenge for the earlier killing kill of two bahara members by villagers now the extremist group has waged a 15-year Insurgency in the country's Northeast and finally as promised back to buo for a quick look at the African stars shining at the par Olympics and buo one man in particular has caught your eye some pretty impressive credentials and not just sporting ones tell us about him quite rightly uh this man is uh We've called him the golden engineer here uh he started you know he was born with club foot um he has a masters in chemical engineering he is now doing his Doctorate in conversion of plastic waste to energy and he is also now the 100 meter t-44 par Olympic gold medal Champion uh I mean an absolute Mega star and um I tip you this um if you are looking ahead into the future look out for this man to be the global face of a disabled and differently abled athletes on the track they love him he is so articulated and as you can see I mean the man you see the face there he's all passion he's all he's all energy and he is the face of running we presume in the future they love him around the world so this is our guy and gold medalist from South Africa extremely proud of This brilliant brilliant young man and and we're rough pretty much at the midpoint now of the Paro Olympics what else has jumped out of you over this first half of the games you know an absolute Legend from from um Tunisia ruy Ley if you don't know that name she's won the shot put five times consecutively I mean it's simple with this lady let's not uh go on let's not um uh you know bloviate she is simply iconic five Olympic Gos in a row that's 20 years of dominance you saying bolt eat your heart out an icon of the sport and by the way that's not just uh that's not it that's not all she's got she's got two discus gold medals tomorrow morning she will try and make it eight gold medals at the Olympics in total what a career what a woman what an icon thank you so much for keeping your eye on the par Olympics for Africa and for I on africaa tin there for us once again that though is all we have time for for iron Africa thanks for joining us do so again if you can till then take care [Music]