Episode 8 - Michela Wrong

Out of the Shadows Project Podcast

In this episode we welcome investigative journalist Michela Wrong. Micheal is a leading expert on Africa, particularly the great lakes region. She has written 5 books: a novel set in the horn of Africa and 4 non-fiction books. Her non-fiction and investigative work has focused on the history and politics of Congo, Eritrea, Kenya, and, more recently Rwanda. In 2021 she published Do Not Disturb: The Story of a Political Murder and an African Regime Gone Bad, The book explores the repressive nature of the current Rwandan regime with a particularly focus on its extraterritorial repression, including the use of assassination. Building on Michela's book and on a report by Human Rights Watch, the episode covers the Rwandan regime, its intelligence services, and its practices. The core of the episode is a discussion of the use of extraterritorial assassinations. We cover the targets selected for assassination, the rationale behind assassination, and the methods used. We also cover plausible and implausible deniability, the signalling functions of these assassinations at home and abroad. Finally, we discuss the extent to which impunity and the absence of repercussions influences human rights, international norms, and other states' practice. Michela's book recommendations are: - The work of Gerard Prunier on Rwanda and the region, for example, The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide, - The work of Rene Lemarchand, including his Remembering genocides in Central Africa, - David van Reybrouck, Congo: the epic history of a people.