UN peacekeepers in CAR hit with fresh sex abuse allegations

UN peacekeepers are facing fresh allegations that they sexually abused four young girls in the Central African Republic, the latest in a wave of child rape cases to hit the mission.
The United Nations said on Tuesday it had informed three countries of the claims and asked them to investigate their soldiers serving in the MINUSCA mission in Bangui.
A UN spokesperson declined to name the countries and to specify how many troops were involved, but sources said the accused soldiers are from Gabon, Egypt and Morocco.
The UN mission said in a statement that it was also investigating allegations against “international forces” in Bangui, without providing details.
The latest allegations bring the number of sexual abuse cases involving UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic to 26.
The UN mission “is investigating new allegations concerning both sexual exploitation and abuse and other misconduct by UN peacekeepers in Bangui”, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York on Tuesday.
Mission chief Parfait Onanga-Anyanga told troops and police in Bangui that there would be “zero tolerance” for such actions and “no complacency for perpetrators”.
The four girls, all minors, received medical care, along with shoes, clothes and hygiene kits.
The troops were accused of rape, sexual exploitation and transactional sex with the girls, some of whom were living in a camp for displaced civilians in Bangui, a UN official told AFP.

PUNCH