French aid worker killed in drone strikes in rebel-held DR Congo city

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Wycliffe Muia

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UNICEF

Karine Buisset’s colleagues described her as being passionate about child protection

A French national working for the UN in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been killed, the French president has said, following reports of drone strikes on the eastern city of Goma.

Witnesses say the drones hit Lake Kivu and a two-storey residential building frequently occupied by expatriates and aid workers in the rebel-held city early on Wednesday morning.

In a post on X, French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed the death of Karine Buisset, who worked for the UN children’s charity Unicef, and urged “respect for humanitarian law”.

Several other people were feared killed in the attack but the death toll could not be immediately confirmed.

The M23 rebels took control of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, near the border with Rwanda, early last year.

The group has since 2021 seized swathes of mineral-rich eastern DR Congo, with multiple ceasefires brokered only to collapse soon after.

What’s the fighting in DR Congo all about?

The DR Congo army, stationed several hundred kilometres from Goma, regularly launches long-range drone strikes on M23 positions, while security sources say the M23 also deploys explosive drones at the front lines.

Videos circulating on social media on Wednesday showed flames engulfing the building as thick smoke rose into the night sky and residents scrambled amid the debris.

Images from the scene showed the building heavily damaged, with the roof partially torn apart, walls peppered with shrapnel marks and windows blown out.

Residents said they had heard the sound of bomb blasts and the buzzing of drones in the neighbourhoods of Goma, sparking panic.

An aid worker close to the house hit told AFP news agency that he had heard the sound of a drone, followed by a loud explosion that blew a “hole in the roof” of the building.

Firefighters, UN staff and M23 officials were seen at the scene on Wednesday morning.

The private residence is located near the home of former DR Congo President Joseph Kabila, AP news agency reported. He has been sentenced to death for treason over accusations he backs the rebels, charges he denies.

Buisset’s colleagues described her as a dedicated humanitarian worker, who was passionate about child protection programmes in the region.

“The humanitarian family mourns a woman of conviction,” Unicef in Cameroon posted on X, announcing that UN flags would be flown at half-mast in her honour.

M23 rebels blamed the government for the attack, terming it a “terrorist act”.

The DR Congo government did not immediately comment.

The strikes come amid the expanding use of drones in DR Congo’s conflict, which has displaced millions and drawn in regional powers.

The UN and Western nations accuse Rwanda of backing the M23 - charges it denies.

Last month, prominent M23 spokesman Willy Ngoma was killed in a strike near the mining town of Rubaya.

The fighting continued despite Rwanda and DR Congo signing a peace deal in early December at the urging of US President Donald Trump, the latest attempt to end the conflict.

More about the conflict in DR Congo:

Inside the Congolese mine vital to mobile phones, as rebels give BBC rare access

How Trump wants the US to cash in on mineral-rich DR Congo’s peace deal

Your phone, a rare metal and the war in DR Congo

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