Goma, 26 August 2013 - Martin Kobler, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General in the Democratic Republic of Congo wound up a three-day visit to Goma on 26 August 2013. The mission was undertaken a day after a bomb shell launched by M23 elements fell on the city of Goma killing three people.

The chief of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in DR Congo (MONUSCO) arrived in the capital of the North-Kivu province on 22 August 2013, and went straight to the frontline in Kibati, about 20 kilometers away from the city.

At a press conference held jointly with Flavia Pansieri, the United Nations Human Right Deputy High Commissioner on 23 August, MONUSCO Chief said "I have urgently come to comfort the population here and instruct MONUSCO Force Commander to do everything in his power to defend civilians."

On 24 August, after two consecutive days of shrapnel shelling, another press conference was held at MONUSCO headquarters in Goma.

On Sunday, 25 August, Martin Kobler received six American senators before visiting Congolese soldiers injured in the fight to express his sympathy. "You are heroes, we are proud of you; that is why we have come to express our sympathy, and to hear about the problems facing the hospital where you are being treated now," he told the soldiers at the Katindo military hospital.

Later on, at the Indian Level III hospital, the Special Representative also visited three peacekeepers injured on the front line. He then went to a MONUSCO staff's residence, which was hit and destroyed by a shell on 22 August.

In the evening, he met six ministers from Kinshasa as well as the governor of the North Kivu province to review the security situation on the ground.

Maïmouna Traoré /MONUSCO