A Rwandan former soldier who lived in exile as a vocal critic of President Paul Kagame has been found murdered in Uganda.
Police in Uganda said the body of 50-year-old Robert Kabera was discovered by residents on Saturday in Kamengo, Mpigi District, on the outskirts of Kampala. His head was missing.
Ugandan police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke confirmed on Monday that the head has not been recovered and that investigations are underway. The body has been taken to Mulago City Mortuary.
Family members said Kabera had left home to inspect a building site about 45 kilometres from the capital where he was constructing a house.
Kabera served as a sergeant major in the Rwanda Defence Force before fleeing to Uganda in 2020. The RDF declared him a fugitive at the time after he faced an allegation of sexual assault, which he denied, saying the case was politically motivated.
In exile, he reinvented himself as a musician known as Sergeant Robert and as a YouTuber. His channel, with over 144,000 subscribers and more than 800 videos, regularly criticised Kagame’s government and its human rights record.
His wife, Jeanne d’Arc Rwigema Uwizeye, told BBC Great Lakes she now fears for her life and that of her children. The Rwandan government has not commented on the killing.
The exiled opposition group, Rwanda National Congress, has condemned the murder and called for a thorough investigation, saying the death raises fresh fears about the safety of Rwandan dissidents abroad.
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