Comander of Peacekeeping ‘forced girls into sex with dog’

Mangalore Today News Network

United Nations, April 01, 2016: More than 100 girls and women have come forward with new sexual abuse accusations against international peacekeepers in Central African Republic, the UN said on Thursday, calling allegations that a French military commander forced three girls to have sex with a dog "shocking to the core".

 

The revelations dramatically expand an already alarming scandal involving troops sent to protect civilians in the world’s hotspots who become predators instead.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said 108 alleged victims of sexual abuse have been interviewed by a UN team in Kemo prefecture, east of the capital Bangui, the vast majority of them minors. The allegations date from 2013 through last year and far eclipse the 22 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation in Central African Republic in 2015 that the UN reported earlier this month.

Dujarric said the UN can’t confirm a report by the US-based advocacy group, AIDS-Free World, that three girls told the UN they were taken to a French military camp, tied up, undressed, and forced by a commander to have sex with a dog — but he said the investigation is continuing.

According to the group, each girl was given 5,000 Central African Francs, worth about $9, after having sex with the dog, including a fourth girl who later died of an unknown illness.

France’s UN ambassador, Francois Delattre, called the allegations "sickening and odious" and promised "exemplary disciplinary action" in addition to a criminal response if they’re proven true.