Patrick Karegeya

Patrick Karegeya (1960 – December 31, 2013) was a head of intelligence in Rwanda. He was a member of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) group that took power in Rwanda following the genocide against Tutsi. Following a time in exile, he was assassinated in Johannesburg, South Africa on December 31, 2013.

Early life, rise in Uganda Karegeya was born in Mbarara in southwestern Uganda. He was a member of the Kinyarwanda speaking Tutsi people who had been exiled to Uganda from Rwanda following the 1959 Hutu revolution. This led to the creation of a large variety of militia groups being backed by different regional powers in the First and Second Congo War. He was stripped of his rank of colonel on 13 July 2006 by a military tribunal and fled the country in 2007.

In August 2010, Karegeya told the Ugandan paper, The Observer, that Kagame was a dictator who would not leave power unless he was forced out by war. The same month, he told the BBC that Kagame had ordered a series of political killings.

Death On 1 January 2014, Karegeya was found dead at the Michelangelo Towers, an upmarket hotel in the Johannesburg suburb of Sandton in South Africa. Reports indicated that he had gone to attend a meeting at the hotel. The circumstances leading to his death remain unknown. The South African police are conducting investigations although the Rwandan opposition party, the Rwanda National Congress (RNC) said in a statement to AFP that "He was strangled by agents of [Rwandan President Paul] Kagame," having previously survived several assassination attempts. Karegeya left behind his wife Leah and three children.

Some days after his killing, Paul Kagame, in an apparent reference to Karegeya's murder, said that "You can't betray Rwanda and not get punished for it [...] Anyone, even those still alive, will reap the consequences. Anyone. It is a matter of time.". When confronted, Kagame denied responsibility, but added that "I actually wish Rwanda did it. I really wish it."

It was reported in the South African press that Karegeya had agreed to dispense with his South African security detail in 2012. The government of South Africa had provided the protection since Karegeya's arrival in South Africa in 2007. The decision to provide protection was reportedly influenced by assassination attempts against former army chief of staff Kayumba Nyamwasa, another Rwandan exile in South Africa.

Karegeya's family has accused South Africa of covering up his murder.

In January 2019, a state prosecutor launched an inquest into the assassination. The hope was to issue arrest warrants for the suspects who are believed to have fled back to Rwanda. On 19 January 2019, the Randburg Magistrates Court ruled that it was striking the murder inquest from its rolls as the prosecution had not produced any suspects.