Rape charges shadow U.N. peacekeepers
Allegations of killings, sex attacks of girls, women by those they trust in Africa
BANGUI, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC Sitting under a mango tree on the outskirts of this capital city, Abdou Mbone, 58, says U.N. peacekeeping troops raped his wife, Halima, before leaving her body in the street a year ago.
Mbone’s wife had gone to buy food for dinner before realizing that Christianmilitias were in the neighborhood fighting Islamist rebels. She hurried to a nearby market to find the peacekeepers who often stood guard there.
“She tried to seek help from soldiers so that she could be escorted to our house,” the father of three said, nearly collapsing from grief. “They instead raped her.”
Mbone’s allegations can’t be independently confirmed, but he said other residents “will tell you stories how their wives and children were either killed or raped by the same soldiers.”
Fresh details of rape and other sexual abuses by peacekeeping forces here continue to surface a year later, amid complaints that not enough has been done to uncover and stop such actions.
Human Rights Watch released a report Feb. 4 alleging that United Nations peacekeepers had raped at least eight girls and women last year, including a 14-year-old girl, in Bambari, a town about 230 miles northeast of here.
“The men were dressed in their military uniforms and had their guns,” the 14-yearold said, according to the report. “One of them grabbedme bymy arms and the other one ripped off my clothes. They pulled me into the tall grass and one held my arms while the other one pinned down my legs and raped me.”
The United Nations said it is investigating the claims and has confined soldiers from the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo alleged to have participated in the assaults to their barracks until they are sent home.
The allegations are similar to those lev- eled in January by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, saying French and European Union troops stationed here abused children.
Other allegations surfaced in April 2015 about child abuse here by peacekeepers dating to 2014. And an independent U.N. panel faulted local peacekeeping officers in December for failing to aggressively investigate such allegations.
OnMonday, U.N. Secretary- General Ban KiMoon named American Jane Holl Lute, a former U.N. undersecretary, to coordinate efforts to prevent future sexual abuse by peacekeepers.