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Yvette Kapinga Ngandu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Ambassador to the United States, joins Adam Goodman on 13th and Park for a sweeping conversation about one of the most strategically consequential relationships in American foreign policy. Ambassador Ngandu opens with context most Americans do not have: the DRC is roughly a quarter the size of the United States, home to 120 million people, and sits at the geographic center of the African continent. She traces the two countries' shared history back to the Manhattan Project, when uranium sourced from the Belgian Congo helped produce the atomic bombs that ended World War II, and brings that thread forward to the present day, where the DRC holds approximately 20 of the 60 critical minerals the United States has identified as essential to its defense, electronics, and energy sectors.

The conversation turns to the US-DRC Strategic Partnership signed by Presidents Trump and Tshisekedi, which Ambassador Ngandu describes as a decisive shift away from aid dependence and toward a genuine economic partnership built around American investment, supply chain security, and human capital development. She emphasizes that the goal is not simply to extract minerals, but to build local capacity, create sustainable development, and give Congolese citizens a reason to build their futures at home rather than seek opportunity elsewhere.

Ambassador Ngandu addresses the ongoing conflict with Rwanda directly, calling the December 2025 Washington Agreement a paradigm shift that finally named Rwanda as a direct actor in the DRC's instability rather than treating it as a neutral observer. She describes more than 7 million deaths in eastern Congo since 1996, a figure that dwarfs the internationally recognized toll of the Rwandan genocide, and shares the moment early in her humanitarian career when a UN envoy's description of the DRC as the world capital of rape moved her to demand action at the African Union level. She calls on the United States to express its resolve more forcefully and to follow through on the framework both governments have already committed to.

The episode closes on a more optimistic note, with Ambassador Ngandu reflecting on the DRC's surprising run at the FIFA World Cup and the role of figures like Dikembe Mutombo in building genuine affection between the two countries. She describes a nationwide tour of American cities, from Florida to California to Chicago, making the case directly to investors that the Strategic Partnership belongs to both nations, not just their capitals.

Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:12 What Americans Should Know About the DRC
2:44 The Manhattan Project and Congo's Role
4:54 US-DRC Strategic Partnership
7:44 DRC's Role in African Stability
9:40 China, the US, and the Race for Resources
10:55 Human Capital and Stopping Migration
11:41 The War with Rwanda: History and Human Cost
15:22 Can President Trump Help Broker Peace?
16:51 A Personal Story from the Conflict
19:02 National Security and the Window of Opportunity
21:23 The DRC at the FIFA World Cup
23:40 Closing Reflections

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