2018 African Athletics Championships: Refugee competitors participate in Nigeria

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On Sunday, the 21st African Athletics Championships wrapped up in Nigeria. The competition involved competitors from 15 nations across the continent, participating in 44 different events, but it was the inclusion of a selection of a different set of athletes which made as many headlines as any medal winners. Edmond Nyabola has more.

Jostling for a medal in the men's 1500 meters at the African Senior Athletics Championships is Paulo Amotun Lokoro. Lokoro is not affiliated to any national team. He is participating in these championships as part of a refugee athletics team. His native country, South Sudan, has suffered years of civil strife, but at Kakuma Camp in Kenya, he can practice the sport he dearly loves.

PAULO AMOTUN LOKORO REFUGEE ATHLETE • 1500 METERS "Soon our country will get peace. We will go back to our country to represent our country. As in this moment, when the country is still going on with war, we have nowhere to go back, because when there is still fighting, we can't go."

Lokoro is among seven athletes from Kakuma and Daadab camps in Kenya, who were selected to take part in these championships. For them, this sends out a message to the rest of the world.

JOSEPH ERNESTO REFUGEE ATHLETE • 800 METERS "Someone who left the country due to some situation in the country, so to go and participate outside, all to show that let people encourage those who ran away so that in some places, or other big people maybe involved, or initiate process of getting peace in their own land."

JAMES CHIENGJIEK REFUGEE ATHLETE • 400 METERS "It gives a lot of us hope so that maybe you can get a chance by improving your time, and show your talent, and also it can show that refugees is just, that one is just a status. We can do something as the way the other people are doing."

They might not have performed optimally in Asaba, but these athletes are not deterred. They will keep working at it, until they get the results.

PAULO AMOTUN LOKORO REFUGEE ATHLETE • 1500 METERS "What I need is just to win a medal. Like today, if I miss, next time I can do better again."

JAMES CHIENGJIEK REFUGEE ATHLETE • 400 METERS "Right now we are focusing on how we can get time, coz that is the most important right now."

The IOC, IAAF, and the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights formed the Refugee Olympic Team in 2015. This was in an effort to show solidarity with the world's refugees. Edmond Nyabola, CGTN, Asaba, Nigeria.