Six people were killed and 41 others injured in a drone attack on Masisi Centre, the administrative capital of Masisi Territory, in North Kivu Province, on Friday, January 2. ALSO READ: AFC/M23’s Bertrand Bisimwa explains why rebels were forced to capture Uvira in lightning advance The AFC/M23 rebels accused Kinshasa’s military coalition that comprises thousands and thousands of Congolese army forces (FARDC), Burundian troops, Congolese militias called Wazalendo, genocidal militia from Rwanda (FDLR), and mercenaries from Latin America and Europe, of carrying out the attack from Uvira, South Kivu. ALSO READ: Why genocide ideology doesn’t dissolve three decades after dispersion of genocidaires A day later, on January 3, the UN mission in DR Congo (MONUSCO) stated that it “is deeply concerned by reports of a drone strike in Masisi-centre, and strongly condemns any attack, including by drones, targeting or affecting civilians and civilian infrastructure. Knowing that UN peacekeepers are actually training FARDC soldiers particularly on the use of drones and heavy weapons, foreign minister Amb Olivier Nduhungirehe reacted to the UN mission’s post, on X: “To better understand this ‘condemnation’ that is so mild from @MONUSCO, which doesn't even mention its allies, the FARDC, as perpetrators of this war crime against Congolese civilians in Masisi Centre; “Let us recall that on November 4, 2025, MONUSCO itself informed us on X that it had conducted training for 120 FARDC soldiers in Ituri, particularly on the use of drones and heavy weapons.” Pour mieux comprendre cette condamnation molle de la @MONUSCO, qui ne mentionne même pas ses alliés FARDC comme auteurs de ce crime de guerre contre des civils congolais à Masisi Centre; Rappelons que le 4 novembre 2025, la MONUSCO elle même nous informait sur X qu'elle avait... https://t.co/yGdYokyFef — Olivier J.P. Nduhungirehe (@onduhungirehe) January 3, 2026 For long, the UN mission has been accused of providing the government-led coalition with information used to plan drone strikes against AFC/M23 positions as well as on unarmed civilians in North Kivu Province. In February, rebel spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka also warned that Kinshasa continued massacring civilians in Minembwe, Uvira, and surrounding areas in eastern DR Congo’s South Kivu Province, using attack drones guided by MONUSCO intelligence. On Saturday, the UN mission called for an independent verification and the establishment of facts on Friday’s deadly drone strike incident. In another post on X, Coulibaly Bojana, a Great Lakes conflict researcher and analyst, pointed out that: “MONUSCO is clearly embarrassed at not being able to name the Congolese government—which it directly supports operationally and logistically—as the perpetrator of this heinous and targeted drone strike against Congolese civilians.”
