Uganda team fears HIV outbreak amid sexual abuse scandal

One of the most prominent members of Uganda’s national track and field team has spoken out about fears of an HIV outbreak among athletes in the country. The worries come amid an ongoing court case centred around accusations that former coach Peter Wemali forced young female runners on national teams to have sex with him.

The Daily Monitor, a national newspaper in the country, reported on April 30 that in court it was revealed Wemali is HIV-positive and transferred the virus to three young runners.

He is on trial for aggravated defilement of three young women he coached. The girls are 15, 16 and 17 years old. The three have all since had relationships with other elites runners in the community.

Moses Kipsiro, a bronze medallist at the world track and field championships and three-time Commonwealth Games champion, first brought attention to issues of sexual abuse at team training camps in March of 2014 after young runners on the team approached him, team captain at the time, with complaints about Wemali. One girl claimed the coach would wake her up in the middle of the night and force her to have sex with him or he would remove her from the team.

After bringing up the issues, Kipsiro was removed from the national cross-country team and the police who run the camp – a common practice in East Africa – cleared Wemali of any wrongdoing. He remained a coach until early in April 2015 when he was arrested after three athletes made statements about his sexual abuse.

“Many of our colleagues must be infected,” Kipsiro told the Daily Monitor earlier this week. “I know of many senior male runners who have unknowingly shared girlfriends with Mr. Wemali. Some are even married to runners that once had affairs with him.”

Kipsiro told the media he will be meeting with other figures in the Ugandan track and field community about a serious push to have everyone tested for the virus in hopes of mitigating the worst of the potential HIV outbreak