According to a family member, the body of Nemes Tarimo, a Tanzanian who died while fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine, is still in Russia. They expected the body to arrive on January 10 and had already made plans for burial at the family’s rural home.
“One of our family members is contacting the Tanzanian embassy in Russia on the procedures. All the [burial] arrangements are ready but the body is stranded and we don’t know why” a family member explained.
A mourner who had regularly visited the home in hopes of seeing the body claimed the extended wait was painful.
“It’s not good and this family is going through a lot. All I feel is that the body should be sent as soon as possible to reduce inconveniences,” he stated.
According to a family spokeswoman, mourners will have the opportunity to pay their last respects to the deceased in Dar es Salaam before the body is transferred to their rural community in the Southern Highlands region for burial.
The news of the death of Nemes Tarimo had spread along with a video of him being accorded a military farewell by Russia’s armed services. Both local and Russian embassy officials have yet to comment on the incident, which comes just a few weeks after Zambian national Lemekhani Nyirenda, 23, died on Ukrainian battlefields.
Tarimo died around the end of October, according to the family, and they learned of his death via close friends at the end of December. The Tanzanian Embassy in Moscow afterward provided them with official information.
Nemes Tarimo was jailed for a drug-related case and was serving a prison sentence, according to close associates. He was eventually given the option of joining Wagner’s group and was guaranteed parole after six months of fighting on the battlefield. Nemes reportedly travelled to the Russian Federation to pursue postgraduate studies at the Russian Academy of Technology, MIREA.