Willy Ngoma, the military spokesperson of the March 23 Movement (M23), was killed in a pre-dawn drone strike by the Congolese army in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo on Tuesday, according to two senior rebel officials, a regional diplomat and a Western adviser to the government.
The strike targeted the mining town of Rubaya in North Kivu at around 3 a.m., following days of intensified aerial surveillance and drone bombardments in the area, a senior M23 said.
Rubaya is no ordinary town. The coltan-rich hub accounts for roughly 15% of global supply, making it one of the rebels’ most lucrative revenue streams and a strategic prize in the protracted conflict.
Its importance has grown further after Kinshasa included the mining site on a shortlist of strategic assets proposed to the United States under a new minerals cooperation framework.
The killing comes amid escalating clashes around Rubaya, with civil society groups reporting heavy fighting since Sunday that has displaced hundreds of families.
Ngoma’s death also casts a shadow over ongoing Qatar-mediated ceasefire efforts. Kinshasa and M23 recently signed agreements in Doha to establish a joint ceasefire monitoring and verification mechanism, with Qatar, the United States and the African Union serving as observers.
Ngoma had been under sanctions from the European Union since December 2022 for his role as the public face of the rebel movement.
There was no immediate official confirmation from Kinshasa. A spokesperson for the presidency declined to comment, while the army did not respond to requests for clarification.
M23 — which the United Nations says receives backing from Rwanda — controls significant territory across North and South Kivu following a rapid offensive last year that saw the rebels seize key cities including Goma and Bukavu.
Although the rebels briefly captured Uvira in December, government forces retook the lakeside city last month. Congo reopened its border crossing with Burundi there on Monday in what officials described as a sign of stabilising security.
Meanwhile, the U.N. peacekeeping mission has deployed a joint exploratory assessment team to Uvira to help operationalise the Doha ceasefire monitoring mechanism and evaluate conditions on the ground — even as fighting intensifies elsewhere in the region.
