Episode Notes:

Italy’s ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo was killed on Monday by armed men in a failed kidnapping attempt. The ambassador, Luca Attanasio, was travelling in a U.N. humanitarian convoy in the notoriously unstable eastern part of the country bordering Uganda and Rwanda. Attanasio was killed along with his Italian bodyguard and a local driver.

To help us make sense of the attack and the security situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we’re joined today by Jason Stearns. Jason is the director of the Congo Research Group at New York University and an assistant professor at Simon Fraser University.

[ 00:56 ] Attack on the ambassador

[ 02:58 ] Why is the eastern part of the country so unstable

[ 06:15 ] What’s next