Uganda: Robert Kabera, exiled critic of Paul Kagame with 144,000 subscribers, killed near Kampala

The body of Robert Kabera, a former Rwandan army sergeant who had taken refuge in Uganda, was found decapitated in the village of Luwala, near Kampala, in south-central Uganda. The Ugandan police, as cited on October 20, 2026, by Al Jazeera, announced they are investigating the murder of a man in his fifties whose head has not been recovered, and believe the death occurred during the night of October 16 to 17, 2026. Relatives have identified the body as that of Kabera.

A voice that became a nuisance

According to Al Jazeera, Robert Kabera did not criticize the government while he was serving in the army. It was after he left Rwanda several years ago that he became an outspoken opponent of President Paul Kagame, who has led the country since 2000. He ran a YouTube channel, "Major Robert TV," followed by 144,000 subscribers, where he notably broadcast a song in honor of Victoire Ingabire, a Rwandan opposition figure who has been imprisoned several times.

After his exile, Kabera was declared a fugitive by Kigali and targeted by legal proceedings that he denied. His brother, Victor Agaba, told AFP that "Robert had no problems with anyone," accusing the Rwandan army of fabricating the case and describing it as a "witch hunt." At this stage, the Ugandan investigation has not named any suspects and no responsibility has been established. Al Jazeera reports no reaction from the Rwandan government.

A growing list

The Qatari media outlet recalls that Rwandan authorities have been accused on several occasions of having opponents assassinated abroad, without these accusations leading to convictions in Rwanda. In 2014, former intelligence chief turned dissident Patrick Karegeya was strangled in a hotel room in South Africa. In 2021, critic Seif Bamporiki was shot dead in South Africa, and former lieutenant Revocat Karemangingo was gunned down in Mozambique, where he was suspected of discreetly supporting an opposition force. Former General Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, co-founder with Karegeya of the Rwanda National Congress and still in exile, has survived several assassination attempts.

What this death says about African exile

The Kabera case raises a question that goes beyond Rwanda: the safety of Africans who criticize their governments from another country on the continent. For an opponent or a journalist, crossing an African border no longer guarantees the ability to speak freely, and the responsibility of the host country—in this case, Uganda, where Kampala and Kigali maintain relations marked by successive alliances and mistrust—is directly involved in solving these murders.

Defending the rights of African peoples also means demanding that an investigation reaches a conclusion when a dissident voice is silenced. Story Africa will follow the findings of the Ugandan police, who have so far communicated neither a motive nor any arrests.