Imagine fleeing your country for speaking out, rebuilding your life as a musician and YouTuber in exile, then being found murdered just outside the city you called safe. That is what has just happened to Robert Kabera.

The story is chilling. Kabera, a former army sergeant major turned outspoken critic of President Paul Kagame, was discovered by locals on the outskirts of Kampala at the weekend. Ugandan police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke confirmed on Monday that his body had been found but his head had still not been recovered.

Kabera had travelled about 45 km outside Kampala to check on a building site. He leaves behind a wife and children who are now terrified. His widow Jeanne d'Arc Rwigema Uwizeye told BBC Great Lakes in a written message: It is scary. I feel crazy, the children and I don't have security.

He left Rwanda after being accused of sexual assault, a claim he denied, and sought asylum in Uganda saying he faced political persecution. In exile he built a loud public profile, posting more than 800 videos on YouTube criticising Kagame and his administration to over 144,000 subscribers.

Kagame has been president of Rwanda since 2000 and de facto leader since 1994 when his Rwandan Patriotic Front ended the genocide that killed around 800,000 people. Since then Rwanda has been praised for stability and economic growth but criticised by rights groups for political repression. He won 99.18 percent of the vote in the 2024 election.

Critics abroad have died in disturbing circumstances before. Former minister Seth Sendashonga was shot dead in Kenya in 1998. Former intelligence chief Patrick Karegeya, who helped set up the exiled opposition group Rwanda National Congress, was found strangled in a Johannesburg hotel room on New Year’s Day 2014 after fleeing Rwanda in 2007.

In 2019 South Africa issued arrest warrants for two Rwandans over that killing. After Karegeya died Kagame said: Any person alive who may be plotting against Rwanda, whoever they are, will pay the price.

It raises urgent questions about transnational repression and how safe exiled dissidents really are in neighbouring countries. The Rwanda National Congress said on X: Today his family is grieving, his voice is gone, and Rwandans in exile are confronting a terrifying question, where can we be safe. For Ugandan authorities it is also a test of their ability to protect refugees on their soil.

Ugandan police say investigations are ongoing and are searching for Kabera's head and those responsible. The RNC is demanding a thorough independent investigation. The Rwandan government has not publicly commented.

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