A high-profile exiled Rwandan dissident who gained widespread fame as a musician and YouTube critic of Rwandan President Paul Kagame has been discovered decapitated in a rural area outside Uganda’s capital Kampala, deepening longstanding anxieties about the security of opposition figures who have fled President Kagame’s rule.
Fifty-year-old Robert Kabera, a former Rwandan army sergeant major, fled his home country years ago after authorities brought sexual assault charges against him—accusations he repeatedly rejected. Claiming he faced systematic political persecution for his anti-government views, Kabera successfully sought asylum in neighboring Uganda, where he continued to build his public platform as an outspoken opposition voice.
Uganda’s national police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke confirmed in a Monday briefing that Kabera’s head has not been recovered as of the latest update. Local residents stumbled on his decapitated body on the outskirts of Kampala over the weekend, triggering an ongoing investigation that has yet to yield public charges or suspects. The Rwandan government has not released any official public statement addressing the killing, a decision that follows a pattern of silence after previous deaths of exiled Rwandan critics.
Before his death, Kabera had built a substantial digital following: his self-titled YouTube channel boasted more than 144,000 subscribers and hosted over 800 videos, the vast majority of which offered sharp criticism of Kagame and his ruling administration. Beyond his work as an opposition commentator, he was also a popular local musician, expanding his reach and influence among Rwandan exile communities.
According to statements from Kabera’s family, the former sergeant had traveled roughly 45 kilometers outside Kampala to inspect a construction project he was involved with shortly before he was killed. His widow, Jeanne d’Arc Rwigema Uwizeye, told BBC Great Lakes in a written statement that she and her children now fear for their own lives following her husband’s assassination. “It is scary. I feel crazy, the children and I don’t have security,” she shared in her message.
Kabera’s killing is the latest in a string of high-profile deaths of Rwandan opposition figures who fled the country to escape political pressure. In 2014, Patrick Karegeya, a former Rwandan intelligence chief who co-founded a major opposition party from exile, was found murdered in his Johannesburg, South Africa hotel room. Five years later, South African authorities issued formal arrest warrants for two Rwandan nationals charged with carrying out Karegeya’s killing. Rwandan officials have repeatedly denied involvement in targeting exiled dissidents.
The death has already reinvigorated longstanding international concerns about the safety of Rwandan dissidents who relocate to neighboring countries, with activists warning that opposition voices continue to face lethal risk even after fleeing Rwanda’s borders.