Un opposant rwandais retrouvé décapité en Ouganda
A former Rwandan soldier who had taken refuge in Uganda, where he had become a fervent critic of the Rwandan regime, was found dead, decapitated, near the Ugandan capital, Kampala, police announced Monday.
Rwanda has been repeatedly accused of assassinating opponents of President Paul Kagame, who has ruled the country with an iron fist since taking the helm after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi (at least 800,000 dead, mostly members of this community but also moderate Hutus).
Robert Kabera, a former Rwandan sergeant, fled to Uganda in November 2020, where he was registered as a refugee, his brother Victor Agaba told AFP.
Initially not very critical while still wearing his country's uniform, he gradually hardened his tone against Paul Kagame's power, denouncing in particular human rights abuses.
Kigali has not officially commented on his death.
On his Youtube channel, Major Robert TV, followed by 144,000 people, Mr. Kabera had notably composed a song entitled "Commander Ingabire", in reference to the Rwandan opposition figure Victoire Ingabire, a rare critical voice against President Kagame who has already spent years in prison and was arrested again in June 2025.
Ugandan police are investigating "the murder of an adult male, aged around 50, whose head was cut off and who, so far, has not yet been found," said spokesman Kituuma Rusoke at a press conference on Monday.
"His relatives have identified Mr. Robert Kabera," he continued, adding that residents of Luwala, a village near Kampala, had found the body and that the murder could have been committed "on the night of October 16 or the morning of October 17."
"Robert had no problems with anyone. There have already been attempts on his life, notably in October 2023, when three men attacked him in Kampala," according to his brother.
"Our problem comes from within our own country," he continued, referring to Rwanda. "The army fabricated a criminal case against him. It was a witch hunt, and he knew it before fleeing to Uganda."
Shortly after he left the country, the Rwandan army declared him a "fugitive" and military prosecutors implicated him in a case of abduction of a minor, which he has always denied.
Robert Kabera is far from being the first Rwandan opposition figure in exile to have been assassinated.
In 2021, a former Rwandan army lieutenant, Revocant Karemangingo, was shot dead in Mozambique, where he had lived since 1994 and from where he was suspected of secretly supporting the opposition in Rwanda.
Also in 2021, a leader of a Rwandan opposition party, Seif Bamporiki, was shot dead in South Africa, where Patrick Karegeya, former head of Rwandan intelligence and former close associate of Paul Kagame - of whom he had become a fierce opponent - had already been found strangled to death in a hotel room in 2014.
Another Rwandan exile, former general Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, co-founder of the Rwandan National Congress (RNC) with Mr. Karegeya, has survived several assassination attempts.
Ugandan army chief Muhoozi Kainerugaba, son of President Yoweri Museveni, whose succession he seeks and who is accused of multiple human rights abuses, regularly proclaims his attachment to Paul Kagame on X.
Rwanda will host a Formula 1 Grand Prix on its territory from the early 2030s, as announced last week by the owners of the sport.
Following this announcement, the human rights NGO Amnesty International denounced a "sportwashing award" given to Rwanda, which "buys its place in the world's biggest sporting events to improve its image and divert attention from its appalling human rights record."
AFP
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