Summary: A French UNICEF aid worker was killed in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, following a drone strike on a residential building. The M23 rebel group, which controls the city, blamed the Congolese government for the attack, while the government has not yet commented. The incident occurs amidst ongoing conflict in the region, with international accusations that Rwanda backs the M23 rebels.
Main Topics Covered:
1. The killing of a UN aid worker in a drone strike in Goma.
2. The ongoing conflict involving the M23 rebel group and regional instability in eastern DRC.
3. International involvement and accusations, specifically against Rwanda for supporting the rebels.
UN aid worker killed in DR Congo’s rebel-held Goma
France’s president said a French aid worker with UNICEF was killed, after M23 rebels said a ‘combat drone’ hit the city.
A French aid worker for the United Nations children’s agency has been killed in the eastern Congolese city of Goma, France’s president said, after M23 rebels who control the city said air strikes hit a house there.
“A French humanitarian from UNICEF has been killed in Goma,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on X on Wednesday. “I call for respect for humanitarian law and for the personnel who are on the ground and who are committed to saving lives,” he added.
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Goma is the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) North Kivu province, a strategic city that Rwanda-backed M23 rebels seized from government control in January 2025.
Since taking up arms again in 2021, M23 has captured swathes of the mineral-rich Congolese east, unleashing a fresh spiral of violence in a region long plagued by fighting.
M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka said a drone attack in the early hours of Wednesday hit a residential building in the centre of Goma. He said Karine Buisset, a French national and UNICEF employee, was in the residence at the time and had been killed. The UN has yet to comment.
Video shared online and verified by Al Jazeera showed a house with part of its roof destroyed, and a trail of smoke emerging from one side. Sources on the ground, speaking to Al Jazeera, confirmed the structural damage.
An aid worker close to the house that was hit told the AFP news agency that he heard the sound of a drone, followed by a loud explosion that blew a “hole in the roof” of the building.
Local residents and humanitarian sources told AFP that several sites were hit and several people may have been killed.
Kanyuka said a “combat drone” had been used against the city, and blamed the Congolese government for the attack.
“This morning, the city of Goma was struck by a drone-led terrorist attack … targeting the United Nations and the European Union,” he wrote on X.
“This act of aggression constitutes an intolerable provocation targeting a densely populated urban area and deliberately endangering thousands of innocent civilians,” Kanyuka said.
The Congolese government has not yet commented on the M23 claims.
‘Violations’ of peace deal
The incident comes a day after the DRC’s army, also known as FARDC, said it shot down two drones belonging to Rwandan forces and “their allies” after they entered Congolese airspace in neighbouring South Kivu province.
The drones were downed in Mikenge “after they illegally violated Congolese airspace in the Minembwe area”, said an X account affiliated with the FARDC.
“This act of aggression constitutes a new provocation and a violation of the Washington Accord,” it said, adding that the Congolese forces “remain vigilant, disciplined, and ready to defend” DRC’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
M23 rebels seized the capitals of both North and South Kivu provinces last year, as well as other cities.
They have advanced across several areas in the resource-rich east, even after an agreement signed with the Congolese government in Qatar last year, and following a separate accord signed between the DRC and Rwanda in the United States on December 4.
DRC’s government, the UN and the US all accuse Rwanda of supporting M23, something Kigali denies as it says it is facing threats from armed groups in the DRC.
The US sanctioned Rwanda’s military and four of its senior officers on March 2, accusing them of backing the M23.
In response, Kigali said it regretted the sanctions as “one-sided” and defended its military.
Meridiano
