French, U.N. Troops Accused Of Horrendous Abuse In Car

By PressTV.com | Last updated: Apr 5, 2016 - 11:53:32 PM

A wide view of the U.N. Security Council during a meeting discussing the sexual exploitation and abuse in U.N. peacekeeping operations, March 10.

French troops and U.N. peacekeepers in the Central African Republic (CAR) are facing “extremely troubling” allegations of abusing the local population.

The United Nations said in a statement on March 30 that a U. N. team has received accounts that French troops, known as the Sangaris, forced girls to engage in sexual acts with animals in return for a small amount of money.

“We’ve received reports of cases of bestiality involving French troops but we have not confirmed them at this point,” an unnamed U. N. official said.

“The exact number and nature of these extremely troubling allegations are still being determined,” the statement added.

According to the statement, the victims were abused between 2013 and 2015 in the Kemo Prefecture of the country.

A U.N. team was sent to the area to interview victims and gather information on the latest wave of allegations hitting the U.N. Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) force.

The statement further said that U. N. troops from Burundi and Gabon will be confined to their bases during the probe.

Advocacy group AIDS-Free World, a non-governmental organization that has been monitoring cases of sex abuse by peacekeepers, described the latest allegations as “shocking.”

The advocacy group said in a press release that three girls told a U.N. rights officer that in 2014 they were tied up and undressed by a Sangaris military commander inside a camp and forced to have sex with a dog.

The U.N. Security Council was due to hear a report on the latest allegations during a closed-door meeting.

On March 28, the U.N. reported two new cases of sexual abuse, including that of a 14-year-old girl, by Burundian and Moroccan troops in the African state.

In August, U.N. Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon fired the mission chief in the CAR over increasing allegations of sexual abuse of children by the forces under his watch.

France has thousands of troops in the CAR, 14 of whom are under investigation over the allegations.

The CAR plunged into crisis in December 2013, when anti-balaka militia began coordinated attacks against the Seleka group, which had toppled the government in March that year.

France effectively invaded the CAR, a former French colony, after the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution giving the African Union and France the goahead to send troops to the country. (PressTV.com)

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