UN to tackle claim it mishandles C.Africa rape cases

LIBREVILLE: The UN’s peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) said that it would probe allegations that investigations into sexual abuse by UN soldiers had been disastrously mishandled.

MINUSCA spokesman Vladimir Monteiro, reached by phone in the Central African capital of Bangui, said the force would ‘examine the allegations.’

A US-based NGO, Code Blue Campaign, on Wednesday said a confidential source had given it 14 internal case files regarding allegations of sexual offences against CAR civilians by UN troops.

Complaints were made against UN soldiers from nine countries – Pakistan, Zambia, Republic of Congo, Burundi, Morocco, Egypt, Cameroon, Gabon and Niger.

But a ‘sham process’ meant these complaints were never probed in depth, it said.

In eight of the cases, alleged victims were not questioned to provide evidence; potentially corroborating witnesses were not sought out for interviews; and investigators showed ‘overwhelming bias’ against those who complained, its report said.

“In at least four cases, fact-finders gave weight to unsubstantiated assertions suggesting that the accused peacekeepers were the true victims in the incidents,” it said.

None of the accused has been sentenced, it added. — AFP