Weekly brief: Chelimo closes Uganda’s medal hunt in Oregon with bronze, Ethiopia government forces kill 153 rebels, East African leaders fast track admission of Somalis into regional bloc

On Monday morning, Uganda’s Oscar Chelimo earned a bronze in 13:10.20 at the 5000m final, a season’s best to conclude the Country’s medal journey at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon United States. The 18-man contingent from Uganda this year put up an impressive performance, keeping the country’s flag high.  The men’s 5000m race was star-studded field that included the world record-holder, Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei, who had earned gold over 10,000m earlier in the championships. Chelimo’s bronze finish comes after what he has admitted were a few disappointing outings recently. “I had some difficult times in the past years, I was happy last year to qualify in Tokyo, but then I came last so I had to ask why,” said Chelimo. In total Ugandan athletes have brought home Ugx448m. with Cheptegei taking the lion’s share of $70,000 (about UGX263m) and while Kiplimo will take $22,000 (about UGX83m) in prize money as a result of their gold and bronze medal finishes in the 10,000m, respectively. Cheptegei retained his men’s world 10,000 meters title in a thrillingly unpredictable final at Hayward Field, taking gold in 27min 27.43sec in the morning session of day three at the Oregon22 World Athletics Championships.

In the Horn of Africa, the Ethiopian Joint Security and Intelligence Task Force disclosed Saturday it had killed 153 suspected Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) rebels accused of having committed a recent massacre. The task force said in a press statement that another 900 suspected OLA rebels have been detained during a month-long security sweep from June 14 to July 14. During this campaign, individual and group level firearms, a huge amount of bullets and bullet magazines, various military fatigue uniforms, as well as several vehicles have been seized from the OLA, the statement said. According to the statement, those killed and arrested were related to a massacre carried out last month on mainly ethnic Amhara farmers in Tole rural locality of Gimbi district, West Wollega zone of Ethiopia’s Oromia region. Ethiopian government officials and survivors have accused OLA fighters of carrying out the massacre, a charge the rebel group has denied. The Ethiopian government has disclosed hundreds of people were killed in the massacre. The OLA is a breakaway armed faction of an ex-rebel group Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). In May 2021, the Ethiopian parliament voted to designate the OLA as a terrorist group.

Leaders of the East African Community (EAC) have directed the EAC Council of Ministers to fast-track verification for admission of the Federal Republic of Somalia into the regional bloc. A communique issued late Friday at the end of the 22nd Ordinary Summit of the EAC heads of state in Tanzania’s northern city of Arusha said the leaders noted that the verification for admission to Somalia had not been undertaken. The EAC leaders directed the EAC Council of Ministers to expeditiously fast-track the verification in accordance with the EAC procedure for admission of new members into the EAC and report to the 23rd meeting of the summit, said the communique.

The 22nd ordinary summit of the EAC heads of state had a theme featuring Deepening Integration, Widening Cooperation. If admitted, the Federal Republic of Somalia will become the 8th member of the EAC after Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. The EAC leaders also received an update on the status of the inclusion of French and Swahili as official languages of the EAC in addition to English, said the communique.