Since taking up arms again in 2021, the M23 has seized swathes of the mineral-rich Congolese east with Rwanda's backing, unleashing a fresh spiral of violence in a region long plagued by fighting.

Despite Rwanda and the DRC signing a peace deal at US President Donald Trump's urging in early December, in the latest attempt to end the conflict, clashes between the M23 and Congolese army have continued.

Humanitarian sources reported that several buildings had been targeted in overnight drone strikes, which UN peacekeeping force MONUSCO said also killed two civilians.

The strikes' origin remained unclear.

The Congolese army, stationed some several hundred kilometres from Goma, regularly launches long-range drone strikes on the M23's positions in the east.

According to security sources, the M23 likewise makes use of explosive drones at the front.

The sound of bomb blasts and buzzing drones rang out in several residential neighbourhoods of Goma, a large provincial capital near the border with Rwanda which the M23 seized in a lightning offensive in early 2025, witnesses said.

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

French President Emmanuel Macron said on X that "a French UNICEF humanitarian worker has been killed in Goma. I extend the nation's support and sympathy to her family, loved ones and colleagues".

He urged "respect for humanitarian law and for the personnel who are on the ground and committed to saving lives".

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said the agency was "devastated and outraged by the killing of our colleague Karine Buisset in a reported drone attack".

"Civilians, including aid workers, must never be targeted," she said on X.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres voiced "outrage" at the strike.

"Karine was a dedicated humanitarian who worked tirelessly to support children and families impacted by conflict and crisis," his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at a press briefing in New York.

"Humanitarian personnel must never be a target. This is international law," he added.

- House hit -

Humanitarian sources and rescuers at the site told AFP Buisset was killed during an overnight strike on a house where she was staying.

The building is in Himbi, a residential neighbourhood of Goma on the shores of Lake Kivu where many expatriates, staff members and headquarters of humanitarian organisations are based.

Large residences in the area were requisitioned by M23 leaders after they seized the city.

Security sources contacted by AFP said they believed the strikes were targeting officials or allies of the armed group and that the house where Buisset was staying was hit by mistake.

The sources said former president Joseph Kabila, whom Kinshasa has sentenced to death in absentia for his alleged M23 support, has a residence nearby.

One humanitarian worker told AFP he heard two explosions: the first was preceded by the sound of drones, then a second one, followed by the sound of a drone moving away from the site.

Firefighters, UN employees and officials from the M23 were present at the severely damaged and partially burnt-out site early Wednesday.

No debris of a drone or projectile has yet been identified, emergency teams said.

An M23 spokesman on X accused Kinshasa of carrying out the strike. Congolese authorities have yet to make a statement.

- Key minerals -

For three decades, the mineral-rich Congolese east has been riven by fighting between dozens of armed groups, with foreign armies wading in from time to time.

A half-dozen ceasefires hoping to end the M23 conflict have been brokered before being broken in short order.

In early March, the M23 announced the death of one of its spokesmen, Willy Ngoma, in a drone strike near the Rubaya mine in North Kivu province.

The mine is under the M23's control and a key source of revenue for the armed group.

UN experts believe Rwanda uses the M23 to help control the Congolese east's rich veins of critical minerals, notably the coltan key to manufacturing mobile phones and electric car batteries.

In early March, Washington announced sanctions against the Rwandan army over its support for the M23.

Rwanda denies backing the group but says it faces an existential threat from the presence in the eastern DRC of armed groups linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide of the Tutsis.

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