A former Rwandan soldier and outspoken critic of President Paul Kagame’s government, Robert Kabera, has been found beheaded in Uganda, with police investigating his killing.
Ugandan police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke said the body of a man believed to be about 50 years old was discovered in Luwala, a village near Kampala.
The victim’s head had been severed and had not been recovered as of Monday.
Relatives identified the body as Kabera, a former sergeant who fled Rwanda several years ago. Police said the killing likely occurred late on October 16 or in the early hours of October 17.
Kabera became increasingly critical of Kagame after leaving the military.
His YouTube channel, Major Robert TV, had about 144,000 subscribers and featured a song praising opposition figure Victoire Ingabire, who has faced repeated imprisonment in Rwanda.
Family alleges persecution
Kabera’s brother, Victor Agaba, told AFP that his brother had no known problems with anyone in Uganda and suggested that the dispute stemmed from Rwanda.
Agaba alleged that the Rwandan military had pursued a criminal case against Kabera as part of what he described as a “witch hunt”.
Kabera was declared a fugitive after leaving Rwanda and accused of corrupting a minor, an allegation he denied.
Rwandan authorities have faced accusations of targeting critics and opponents of Kagame, who has led the country since the aftermath of the 1994 genocide, in which about 800,000 people, primarily Tutsi, were killed.
History of attacks on Rwandan exiles
Kabera’s killing adds to a series of attacks on Rwandan opposition figures living abroad.
In 2021, former Rwandan army lieutenant Revocant Karemangingo was shot dead in Mozambique, where he was suspected of secretly supporting an opposition movement.
That same year, outspoken government critic Seif Bamporiki was killed in South Africa.
Patrick Karegeya, a former Rwandan intelligence chief who later became a critic of Kagame, was strangled in his hotel room in South Africa in 2014.
Former general Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, who co-founded the opposition Rwanda National Congress with Karegeya, has also survived several alleged assassination attempts.
Ugandan police have not announced any arrests in connection with Kabera’s killing, and no motive has been officially established.
