Trending 
A former Rwandan soldier, Robert Kabera, who became a vocal critic of President Paul Kagame’s government, has been found beheaded near Uganda’s capital, Kampala, a police spokesperson said on Monday.
Kabera, a former army sergeant who fled Rwanda several years ago, was identified by his relatives after his body was discovered in Luwala village, near Kampala.
Ugandan police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke said officers were investigating the killing of a man believed to be around 50 years old whose head was missing. He said the body was found on October 17, with the murder believed to have occurred late the previous day or early that morning.
Kabera had become increasingly critical of Kagame after leaving the military. His YouTube channel, Major Robert TV, which has about 144,000 subscribers, featured content opposing the Rwandan government, including a song in support of opposition figure Victoire Ingabire, who has been imprisoned several times.
His brother, Victor Agaba, said Kabera had not experienced problems with anyone in Uganda, suggesting that the circumstances surrounding his death could be linked to issues in Rwanda.
Agaba also described a criminal case brought against Kabera by the Rwandan military as a politically motivated attempt to target him.
“Robert had no issues with anyone,” his brother, Victor Agaba, told AFP.
“Our problem comes from home… The army created a criminal case against him. It was a witch hunt,” he said.
Kabera had been declared a fugitive after leaving the country and accused of corrupting a minor, an allegation he denied.
The killing comes against the backdrop of allegations that Rwandan authorities have targeted opponents of Kagame, who has led the country since the aftermath of the 1994 genocide, in which about 800,000 people, mainly from the Tutsi community, were killed.
Several Rwandan dissidents living abroad have been killed in previous incidents. In 2021, former Rwandan army lieutenant Revocant Karemangingo was shot dead in Mozambique, where he was suspected of secretly supporting an opposition movement. Seif Bamporiki, another outspoken government critic, was also shot dead in South Africa that year.
Patrick Karegeya, a former Rwandan intelligence chief who turned against the government, was strangled in a hotel room in South Africa in 2014.
Another exiled former general, Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, who co-founded the opposition Rwanda National Congress with Karegeya, has survived several reported assassination attempts.
