France investigates allegations of sexual assault by peacekeepers in Central African Republic - CAR
French prosecutors are investigating allegations that French soldiers sexually abused a number of children during a peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic last year, The Wall Stret Journal reports, citing the French defense ministry.
Witness accounts collected by United Nations agencies involved in the peacekeeping mission allege that members of French forces in the country abused roughly 10 children over the course of six months in the winter and spring of 2014, the ministry said.
The alleged abuse took place at the airport outside the capital city of Bangui, where French forces have their headquarters, the ministry added.
French defense officials said they immediately conducted an internal inquiry into the allegations, and last July referred the matter to French prosecutors for a criminal investigation. That probe is being conducted by military police investigators who work under the Paris prosecutor, and who traveled to last summer to Central African Republic, the ministry said.
A spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed that the investigation was still under way.
“If these facts prove true, the ministry will ensure that the strongest penalties are imposed on those responsible for what would be an intolerable attack on military values,” the defense ministry said.
Representatives of the UN peacekeeping office in Central African Republic, known by its French acronym Binuca, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on the alleged assaults, which were first reported Wednesday in the Guardian.
The allegations raise questions about French soldiering in Africa, where France has played the role of regional cop, partly due to its history as the former colonial power in much of Africa, including Central African Republic. French troops are helping fight Boko Haram along the Nigerian border. They are also maintaining the peace in Ivory Coast andguarding cities from al Qaeda rebels in Mali, including in the famed caravan stopover town of Timbuktu.
Central African Republic has been torn by sectarian conflict since 2012, when a long-simmering revolt by Muslims living in the northeast of the country toppled a sitting government. In Bangui, Muslims and Christians took turns exacting revenge on each other, raping women and lynching men.
French peacekeepers intervened in December 2013 aiming to stop the killing—which nonetheless continued, sometimes a short walk from their positions. A quarter of Central African Republic’s 4.6 million people have fled their homes, and the country is now effectively partitioned along religious lines. About 1,700 French troops remain deployed in the country, the French defense ministry says.
In parts of the dusty, forested interior, fighting continues. But most of the country has been so separated along religious lines that it has stopped.
That has led to a sense of confidence among some officials that the crisis is becoming more manageable. On Tuesday, the U.N. undersecretary-general for peacekeeping operations wrapped up a four-day visit.
“I am leaving the Central African Republic serene and reasonably optimistic,” Hervé Ladsous said.
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