Karine Buisset, French humanitarian killed Democratic Republic of Congo: an investigation opened for “war crimes”

The investigations, entrusted to the Central Office for the Fight against Crimes Against Humanity of the National Gendarmerie (OCLCH), will have to clarify “the circumstances of the commission of the facts” and “keep the victim’s relatives informed”, the same source specifies.

At dawn on Wednesday, a 54-year-old French national, working for Unicef, died in Goma, a city located in the east of the DRC, after “the house she occupied was hit by an explosive device”, reports the international crimes repression center of the national anti-terrorism prosecution (Pnat).

The facts appear “in connection with a situation of armed conflict opposing Congolese forces and the so-called M23 movement”, continues the Pnat.

Kinshasa wants to shed “all the light on the facts”

This French humanitarian employee of Unicef ​​was killed by an unclaimed drone strike in Goma, at the hands of the anti-government group M23 since January 2025, the United Nations Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) said on Wednesday.

Unicef ​​declared itself deeply distressed and outraged by the death of Karine Buisset, “killed during a drone attack on a building housing humanitarian workers in Goma”.

The spokesperson for the M23, which since the end of 2021, with the support of Rwanda and its army, has seized large parts of eastern DRC, a region rich in resources and ravaged by 30 years of conflict, accused the DRC army of having carried out this attack.

For its part, the government of the DRC assured on Wednesday that it “could not undertake an action which contravenes the values ​​which it has always defended”, expressing its “deep sadness” after the death of Karine Buisset and paying tribute to the humanitarian personnel in the DRC.

Kinshasa announced an investigation into “the circumstances” and “the origin of the explosions” to shed “all light on the facts”, without further details.