{"id":2000105042,"date":"2026-03-11T11:53:52","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T09:53:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/?p=2000105042"},"modified":"2026-03-11T11:55:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T09:55:17","slug":"french-unicef-staff-member-killed-in-drc-army-strike-in-goma-targeting-afc-m23-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/french-unicef-staff-member-killed-in-drc-army-strike-in-goma-targeting-afc-m23-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"French UNICEF staff member killed in DRC army strike in Goma"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Video footage from the site shows a building heavily damaged by the strike. DRC authorities reportedly believed the home of a Belgian national named Pascal was sheltering several group leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawrence Kanyuka, spokesperson for AFC\/M23, confirmed that three people died in the attack, including a foreign national. Among the victims was French UNICEF staff member Carine Buisset, who worked in Goma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bertrand Bisimwa, deputy coordinator of AFC\/M23 in charge of politics, diplomacy, and governance, condemned the attack, accusing the DRC government of violating ceasefire agreements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt this moment, the city of Goma is under attack by drones from the Kinshasa regime. This latest escalation of violence reflects Kinshasa\u2019s ongoing pattern of ceasefire violations, coupled with the surprising inaction of peace process partners,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday morning, United Nations peacekeeping forces in DRC (MONUSCO)arrived at the site to investigate the attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DRC government has indicated that it intends to reclaim territories held by AFC\/M23 through military means, despite calls from the international community to prioritize political dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Congolese National Center for Cybersecurity (CNC) has reportedly been used to track the phones of some AFC\/M23 leaders and former President Joseph Kabila to facilitate drone strikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 24, 2026, a subsequent strike near the Rubaya stronghold targeted top AFC\/M23 leaders, including the group\u2019s commander, Gen. Maj Sultani Makenga. The attack killed the group\u2019s military spokesperson, Lt Col Willy Ngoma, along with other fighters including bodyguards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
DRC authorities reportedly believed AFC\/M23 leaders were present in the targeted area.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The building in Himbi was heavily damaged after a drone strike.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The house reportedly belonged to a Belgian national named Pascal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the early hours of Wednesday, March 11, 2026, the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) carried out a drone strike in the Himbi area of Goma targeting senior leaders of the rebel group AFC\/M23, which claimed the life of a French staff member of the United Nations Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000105044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[151,99,69],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000105042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics-48","tag-editors-choice","tag-greatlakesnews","tag-homehighlights","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000105044,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ah1.jpg","alt":"","caption":"The house reportedly belonged to a Belgian national named Pascal.","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":1000,"height":566,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ah1.jpg","width":150,"height":85},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ah1.jpg","width":300,"height":170},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ah1.jpg","width":768,"height":435},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ah1.jpg","width":1000,"height":566},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ah1.jpg","width":1000,"height":566}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000105042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000105042"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000105042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000105047,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000105042\/revisions\/2000105047"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000105044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000105042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000105042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000105042"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000105042"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000105042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}