Kagame critic Robert Kabera found beheaded in Uganda

Robert Kabera, a former Rwandan army sergeant major who became an outspoken critic of President Paul Kagame, has been found beheaded in neighbouring Uganda, the BBC reports.

Kabera, 50, fled Rwanda after being accused of sexual assault, an allegation he denied, and sought asylum in Uganda, citing political persecution.

Kituuma Rusoke, Ugandan police spokesperson, said on Monday that Kabera’s head had yet to be recovered.

The BBC reported that residents discovered his body on the outskirts of Kampala over the weekend.

The Rwandan government has not publicly commented on the killing.

Jeanne d’Arc Rwigema Uwizeye, Kabera’s widow, said in a written message that she now feared for her family’s safety.

“It is scary. I feel crazy, the children and I don’t have security,” she said.

According to Kabera’s family, he had travelled to inspect a construction site about 45 kilometres (30 miles) outside Kampala before his death.

Kabera built a public profile as a musician and YouTuber, attracting more than 144,000 subscribers to his channel, which featured over 800 videos, many of them criticising Kagame and his administration.

Kagame has been Rwanda’s de facto leader since the end of the 1994 genocide, which left the country in turmoil.

He is credited with overseeing Rwanda’s recovery in the years that followed.

However, several of his critics have been killed in Rwanda and abroad, while others have died in prison.

In 2014, Patrick Karegeya, a former Rwandan intelligence chief who helped establish the exiled opposition group Rwanda National Congress (RNC), was found dead in his hotel room in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Karegeya fell out with Kagame and was arrested twice. He served an 18-month prison sentence for insubordination and desertion before fleeing to South Africa in 2007, where he became a vocal critic of the Rwandan government.(TheCable)