They offered him freedom in exchange for joining the Russian mercenary group Wagner: the family of the Tanzanian killed in Ukraine speaks

Nemes Tarimo’s family in Tanzania warned him not to agree to fight with Russian forces in Ukrainebut the 33-year-old had a strong incentive to join.

Three weeks ago now, his relatives learned the news that confirmed their worst fears. He had died in combat.

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Everyone at the family home in the city of Dar es Salaam appears exhausted as they wait for word on when their body could be shipped.

And the wait is taking its toll.

There are about 15 people in the compound, and family members are in and out all day to see if there are any updates.

one says that the last time they heard from him was in Octoberwhen he said that he had agreed to join the Russian mercenary group Wagner.

“Nemes informed me and other members of the family that he was going to join Wagner, and we advised him not to,” a family member, who did not want to give his name, told the BBC.

But for the young man, whom relatives describe as polite, God-fearing and caring, there was a hard to resist offer.

Imprisoned

The family says that Tarimo, who had ambitions to be a deputy from the opposition Chadema party, had been in Moscow as a master’s student in information and communication technology at the MIREA Russian Technological University.

But he was jailed some time after January 2021 for what were described as drug offences.

Last year he was tempted with a deal: enroll in the Wagner Group and be pardoned or remain in prison.

“He said he would join to free himself,” says the relative.

Nemes Tarimo’s family is still waiting for the return of her body so that they can bury it. (NEMES TARIMO/FACEBOOK).

This case echoes 23-year-old Zambian student Lemekhani Nyirenda, who had also been in prison in Russia and died last year fighting with the Wagner Group.

Zambian Foreign Minister Stanley Kakubo told parliament he had been briefed on how prisoners could be pardoned if they agreed to fight.

Last September the head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhinin leaked footage outlining the rules of engagement, such as not deserting or having sexual contact with Ukrainian women, and then giving the prisoners five minutes to decide if they want to sign up.

Russian media news

Tarimo’s family has learned that died in late October while on a combat mission in Ukraine with the Wagner Group.

“The last communication with him was on October 17, when he was already a member of Wagner.”

“Then we got information in December from his friends about his death,” which media reports said was the result of Ukrainian artillery fire.

The FAN (which in Spanish means “federal news agency”), a media outlet used by Prigozhin to boost his group’s reputation, posted a video of what it said was Tarimo’s memorial service at a chapel in the city. Russian by Goriachi Kliuch.

The outlet reported that died on October 24 near Bakhmut, the scene of intense fighting in recent months.

Russia’s state news agency, Ria Novosti, interviewed someone who said they had fought alongside Tarimo. He said the Tanzanian had been killed while trying to help a wounded soldier.

The FAN affirmed that Tarimo received a posthumous medal “for valor” from the Wagner Group.

Relatives have contacted the embassy in Moscow, but the Tanzanian government, which has remained neutral in the conflict in Ukraine, has not yet made a public statement on the student’s death.

The family wants to bury Tarimo in his village in the southern highlandsbut for now they are just waiting.

“We don’t want to believe that he’s gone until we receive the body,” says a relative.

Roida Sambulika, Tarimo’s aunt, adds: “We are saddened by the loss of our son. We still don’t know when the body will arrive, but we have been ready for a week to receive it and let it rest in its eternal home.”

With additional reporting by Joshua Cheetham.

Source: Elcomercio