James Kabarebe

James Kabarebe (born 1959) is a Rwandan politician and retired military officer who serves a senior military advisor to President Paul Kagame of Rwanda since 2025. He previously served as Minister of State for Regional Integration from 2023 to 2025, and as Minister of Defense from 2010 to 2018.

Kabarebe was a key figure in both the First Congo War and the Second Congo War as a commanding officer. In his role of Minister of Defence he was accused of being the de facto leader of the March 23 Movement, a militia in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Early life and education James Kabarabe was born in 1959. Raised in Ibanda western Uganda, he had his early primary education at Kyamate Primary School in western Uganda and attended O-level secondary education at Kabalega Secondary School in Masindi, Bunyoro Western Uganda. He proceeded for A level education at St. Henry's College Kitovu in 1979. He later attended Makerere University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and political science. He was commissioned in 1989.

Education James Kabarebe received his primary education at Kyamate Primary School in western Uganda. He attended Kabalega Secondary school in Masindi for his O-level studies before enrolling at St. Henry's College Kitovu' where he completed his a-level education in 1979. He later studied at Makerere University graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science. The aim of the army was to defeat the ex-FAR and Interahamwe, Hutu militia groups that had committed the genocide against the Tutsi and were engaged in cross-border attacks on Rwanda, destroy the refugee camps that the militia groups and Hutu civilians were living in, and overthrow Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko.

As chief military strategist in Laurent-Désiré Kabila's rebel Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (ADFL), Kabarebe helped engineer the capture of Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on 17 May 1997, and the defeat of Mobutu Sese Seko.

At the end of this mission, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Congolese Army by Kabila. Following his dismissal as Chief of Staff in July 1998, Kabarebe and Ugandan and Congolese allies During the retreat of the coalition forces, the Angolan Armed Forces are alleged to have carried out similar atrocities as the coalition did on its march towards Kinshasa.

Accusations Kabarebe was one of ten Rwandan officials accused in 2006 by Jean-Louis Bruguière, a French judge, of having taken part in the shooting down of the plane of then-president Juvenal Habyarimana. Kabarebe and other senior official have denied these claims. M23 is accused of carrying out killings, rapes and other atrocities in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

In 2025, the United States imposed sanctions on Kabarebe for liaising with M23 in its offensive and facilitating the export of minerals seized by the rebels in the DRC.