Drone Strikes Kill French UNICEF Worker in Rebel-Held Goma, Macron Confirms

Drone strikes tore through residential neighbourhoods in the rebel-held city of Goma in the early hours of Wednesday, killing multiple people including Karine Buisset, a French UNICEF staff member, French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed.

"A French humanitarian from UNICEF has been killed in Goma," Macron wrote on X, adding: "I call for respect for humanitarian law and for the personnel who are on the ground and who are committed to saving lives."

The strikes hit several sites in the city, including a two-storey residential building frequently occupied by expatriates and aid workers. Witnesses reported hearing the buzzing of drones followed by explosions across multiple residential neighbourhoods, sparking widespread panic. Images from the scene showed the building heavily damaged, with the roof partially torn apart, walls peppered with shrapnel marks and windows blown out. A video verified by Al Jazeera showed smoke rising from the gutted structure. An aid worker close to the building told AFP that the sound of a drone preceded a loud explosion that blew a "hole in the roof." Drones also struck Lake Kivu, according to witnesses. Firefighters, UN staff and M23 rebel officials were seen at the scene the following morning.

UNICEF in Cameroon announced the loss on X, writing that "the humanitarian family mourns a woman of conviction" and that UN flags would be flown at half-mast in Buisset's honour.

M23 spokesman Lawrence Kanyuka blamed the Congolese government, calling the attack a "terrorist act." In a post on X, Kanyuka wrote: "This morning, the city of Goma was struck by a drone-led terrorist attack ... targeting the United Nations and the European Union." He described the weapon as a "combat drone" and said Buisset had been inside the residence when it was struck. The DRC government had not commented as of Wednesday morning.

EU crisis management commissioner Hadja Lahbib also confirmed on X that a drone strike had hit a residential building in Goma where aid workers and EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid staff live.

The residential building struck is located near the former home of ex-DRC President Joseph Kabila, who has been sentenced to death for treason over accusations he backs the rebels, charges he denies.

Goma, the capital of North Kivu province on the shores of Lake Kivu, has been under M23 control since the rebel group seized it in a lightning offensive in January 2025. The United Nations and Western governments have accused Rwanda of backing M23, a charge Kigali denies. Since the movement resumed fighting in 2021, it has captured vast stretches of the mineral-rich east, displacing millions of civilians and drawing in regional powers.

The strikes mark a further escalation in the expanding use of aerial weapons across the conflict. Last month, prominent M23 spokesman Willy Ngoma was killed in a strike near the mining town of Rubaya, underscoring how drones have become a defining and increasingly lethal feature of the war.

The death of a UNICEF staff member in the middle of a residential district frequented by international humanitarian workers raises urgent questions about the safety of aid operations in eastern Congo and whether either side in the conflict is willing or able to protect civilian and humanitarian personnel.