UN said one of its staff members and two other people were killed, after M23 rebels said a ‘combat drone’ hit the city.
A French aid worker for the United Nations children’s agency and two other people were killed in a drone strike on a residential building in the eastern Congolese city of Goma, which is under the control of Rwanda-backed M23 rebels.
M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka said a drone attack in the early hours of Wednesday hit a building in the centre of Goma, killing three people, including French UNICEF employee Karine Buisset.
The report was later confirmed by the UN and the French president.
In a statement, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in DRC, Bruno Lemarquis, strongly condemned the escalation of violence, confirming that two civilians and a UN staffer were killed and surrounding homes were damaged.
French President Emmanuel Macron also confirmed reports, saying on X: “A French humanitarian from UNICEF has been killed in Goma … I call for respect for humanitarian law and for the personnel who are on the ground and who are committed to saving lives.”
In a statement, UNICEF said it was “devastated and outraged” at the killing of their colleague, calling Buisset “a dedicated humanitarian who worked tirelessly to support children and families affected by conflict and crisis”.
“Civilians, including aid workers, must never be targeted,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said.
Goma is the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) North Kivu province, a strategic city that M23 rebels seized from government control in January 2025.
Since taking up arms again in 2021, M23 has captured swaths of the mineral-rich Congolese east, unleashing a new spiral of violence in a region long plagued by fighting.
Kanyuka said a “combat drone” had been used in the strike, blaming 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.
Video of the aftermath of the attack, shared online and verified by Al Jazeera, showed a house with part of its roof destroyed, as well as a trail of smoke emerging from one side.
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. Residents and humanitarian sources told AFP that several sites in Goma were hit and several people may have been killed.
‘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.