Murder of presidential adviser “political killing”

Political analysts say the murder of presidential adviser Aciel Kabera in Kigali on Sunday was “clearly” a political killing. The BBC Kinyarwanda service said he was shot dead outside his house by three people in uniform. Kabera had apparently told members of his family he feared for his life as Rwandan officials had linked him with the former parliamentary speaker, Joseph Sebarenzi Kabuye, who fled the country, accused of monarchist sentiments. Like Kabuye, Kabera was a genocide survivor and observers note that survivors are becoming increasingly disenchanted with the current authorities in Rwanda.

“What is clearly coming out after the assassination of Aciel Kabera is that [Vice-President] Paul Kagame is facing opposition from different angles,” Charles Onyango Obbo, editor of the independent Ugandan ‘Monitor’ daily and a regional analyst, told IRIN on Monday. “This includes Tutsis who survived the 1994 genocide, who consider the Tutsis from Uganda as a privileged lot ... who are just monopolising power.” “This kind of situation encourages bumping people off,” he added.