UPDF officer in Equatorial Guinea did not commit suicide - Army

 

It said Ojok, who was among the UPDF officers on a peacekeeping mission, was on April 30 found dead in his room.

 

There had been speculation that he had committed suicide by jumping off a storeyed building.

At his ancestral home in Acimi village, Otwal sub-county, Oyam district, there were rumours that he died of COVID-19.

 

"When we first heard about his death, there was a rumour that he succumbed to the coronavirus, but another UPDF officer rang his wife and informed her that he was found dead in his room. The cause of his death was not known," said Selestino Odongo, the brother of the deceased.

 

Major Peter Ademun, who led the UPDF team that conducted the burial, told mourners that Olipa's body was flown into the country and that a postmortem examination which was conducted at Bombo Military Barracks on Saturday, ruled out suicide.

 

According to the postmortem report that was read before the family members and a handful of mourners, Olipa's neck was broken and there were wounds in his brain.

 

He noted that the UPDF's board of inquiry had embarked on further investigations.

"I am sure the truth will come out," Ademun said.

 

Olipa was not accorded a gun salute because the sound of the gunfire would have attracted crowds and contravened the President's directive on social distancing.

 

Ben Olipa, the father of the deceased, lauded the Government for ensuring that the body was flown into the country and buried at his ancestral home, amid the COVID-19 travel restrictions.

 

Olipa survived by a wife, Monica Olipa and two children.