WORLD / Africa
UN warns Moroccans on sex abuse
(AP)
Updated: 2007-07-23 08:54
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast - The United Nations is investigating Moroccan
peacekeepers suspected of sexually abusing girls under age 18 in Ivory
Coast and possibly leaving some of them pregnant, a UN spokeswoman said
Sunday.
Another UN official said as many as 100 girls may have been abused over
the last several months. The official spoke on condition of anonymity
because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
The UN said Friday in New York that an investigation of peacekeeping
troops had "revealed serious allegations of widespread sexual
exploitation and abuse" in the West African nation.
Margherita Amodeo, a spokeswoman for the UN mission in Ivory Coast, said
Sunday the suspects were part of a unit in a 730-strong battalion of
Moroccan peacekeepers and the entire battalion is now confined to
barracks in the northern city of Bouake while the allegations are
investigated.
Few details of the allegations have come to light and Amodeo said only
that they concerned girls under the age of 18.
"There were a number of cases involving minors, but only an investigation
will reveal the ages of the victims" and details of any abuse, she said.
There is a "possibility" that some of the victims got pregnant or gave
birth to children, Amodeo said. But she could not confirm any such cases.
Any peacekeepers found to have committed abuses will be sent home and
punished under the laws of their country, the UN said.
About 9,000 UN troops and 3,500 French soldiers have been deployed in
Ivory Coast, the world's largest cocoa producer, to prevent all-out civil
war since 2003.
Many of the troops used to patrol the giant buffer zone that divided the
country into a rebel-controlled north and a government-ruled south after
a brief civil war in 2002.
Since signing a peace deal March 4, Ivorians have begun dismantling the
buffer zone, and some of the international peacekeepers stationed have
been preparing to leave.
Amodeo said allegations against the peacekeeping mission were "isolated"
and "should not detract from the remarkable work of the UN mission in
Ivory Coast, particularly the work of the Moroccan soldiers."
The allegations are the first of their kind against the UN mission in
Ivory Coast. However, UN officials have said more than 300 members of
peacekeeping missions worldwide have been investigated for sexual
exploitation and abuse over the past three years in nations including
Congo, Cambodia and Haiti.
At least 18 civilian employees have been dismissed and 17 international
police and 144 military personnel sent back to their home countries.
The UN held a three-day conference in the Dominican Republic last month
as part of an effort to eliminate sexual misconduct in its global
operations.
Amodeo said sexual exploitation was unacceptable and all UN troops in the
country had received educational training about the problem.
"At the time of their deployment and during their presence in the
country, the peacekeepers are sensitized on the policy of zero tolerance
concerning exploitation and abuse," Amodeo said.
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