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Welcome to the Assiel Kabera memorial website.
This page is dedicated to the remembrance of our brother, husband, father and friend.

Born: September 1st,1953, Ngoma, Kibuye
Died: March 5th, 2000, Kigali, Rwanda

Assiel Kabera was born second of six children of Pastor and Mrs. Ezechias Zigirinshuti on September 1, 1953 at the Seventh Day Adventist Mission of Ngoma in Rwanda. He attended his elementary school at the same mission of Ngoma.

After the elementary school, Assiel Kabera continued high school studies at the adventist college of Gitwe from 1969 to 1972 . He was victim of unrest and persecution of ethnic Tutsi in Rwanda of 1972­ 1973 prior to the coup d’etat in 1973. He then fled to the former Zaire and completed his high school at the Seventh Day Adventist of Lukanga in June 1975.

When he returned to Rwanda, he was hired as an elementary school teacher at Ngoma, Kibuye, the same school he attended at early age. During that time, he fell in love with his sweetheart Catherine Utetiwabo, and three years later, in 1978, they tied the knot.

In 1980, Assiel Kabera decided to go back and finished his education. Since he could not be admitted to the only one university in Rwanda because of the ethnic quota put in place by the government at time, he was able to find a private sponsor and he attended the seventh Adventist University of Eldoret in Kenya , where he obtained a Degree in Business Administration.

After his graduation, he returned back in Rwanda, and worked in the department of treasurer at the Union of Seventh Day Adventist churches in Rwanda and Burundi, based in Kigali, Rwanda.

In 1985, he left the the Seventh Day Adventist Union, and got new job as a senior administrator of Technoserve, an American NGO involved in country development until October 1990.

In October 1990, when RPF invaded Rwanda, Assiel Kabera along many other Tutsis in Rwanda, were unjustly arrested and jailed for 6 months long. They were treated as accomplices of RPF, as a matter of fact, all Tutsis were treated as such. During the arrest, Assiel Kabera was shot in the leg by one of the soldiers guarding them and he was left untreated for the whole time in jail. He was later released, thanks to the efforts of human rights organizations outcry.

When he got out, He left the country and went to Kenya for medical treatment and it was a miracle that he did not lose his leg. During his recovery, he was joined his wife and children that were able to escape from the war in Rwanda and fled to Burundi. The family settled in Burundi in the summer of 1991.

Two years later, Burundi has its first democratic elections and elected the first hutu President who three months later was assassinated by his army , majoritary Tutsi. After his assassination the security situation in Burundi deteriorated and a full blown civil war started in Burundi. The Kabera’s family had to flee the unrest. Rwanda was not an option, as the RPF and the Government in Kigali after signing the Arusha agreement had failed to form a government of national unity. It was clear that the two parts were preparing to resume the war. Fortunately, with the help of the family, Assiel Kabera was able to send his wife and children in United States of America while preparing himself to join them later.

Three month after , the war in Rwanda resumed after the downing of the president Habyarimana. It ended after a genocide of Tutsi living in Rwanda was consumed. The RPF defeated the Government of Kigali. More than a million of Tutsi in Rwanda were killed.

After the RPF had won the war and defeated the then government in Rwanda, Assiel Kabera returned to Rwanda to see the fate of his family after the genocide. He came back in Rwanda in July 1994. he found that his parents, two brothers, twenty­five nephews and nieces have been killed during the genocide. In fact, his whole village was slaughtered and wiped out of its population by the merciless Interahamwe militia. The same thing had happened throughout the country. more than a million had been killed and their properties looted and destroyed.

Assiel Kabera responded to the  call of many orphans and widows who needed help. He joined the government to provide the much needed expertise in the country management. He served the new government as governor of Kibuye from 1994 to 1998. He was then appointed to the office of the former President Pasteur Bizimungu where he served as senior political advisor to the President. Kabera held this position until the night of his assassination on March 5th, 2000 at 10:30 P.M. at the entrance gate of his residency where men dressed in military uniform shot him to death. Assiel Kabera was survived by wife(Catherine) Sons(Claude and Christian) daughters(Claudette and Claudine), and brothers(Joshua, Hiram and Hosea).