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Daesh releases official statement claiming responsibility for Paris attacks

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Police investigators pass near a sign smeared with what appears to be blood near the Stade de France stadium the morning after a series of deadly attacks in Paris , November 14, 2015. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier.

Police investigators pass near a sign smeared with what appears to be blood near the Stade de France stadium the morning after a series of deadly attacks in Paris , November 14, 2015. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier.

by Al Bawaba

Daesh (also known as the Islamic State) released a statement claiming responsibility for the coordinated attacks in Paris, reported Reuters. “Soldiers of Caliphate has targeted the capital of abomination and perversion,” said the statement in French.

According to the statement, Daesh members armed with suicide belts and machine guns attacked multiple “specifically chosen” locations in Paris. The attacks were retaliation for French airstrikes against Daesh and insults against the Prophet Mohammed.

The group also urged its members who cannot travel to Syria to conduct attacks in France, and called the country its “top target.”

French President Francois Hollande said the group was responsible for the attacks in a statement Saturday morning.

At least 120 killed as shootings and explosions stir chaotic scenes in Paris

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Gunmen and bombers attacked busy restaurants, bars and a concert hall at six locations around Paris on Friday evening

Medics move a wounded man near the Boulevard des Filles-du-Calvaire after an attack November 13, 2013 in Paris, France. Gunfire and explosions in multiple locations erupted in the French capital with early casualty reports indicating at least 60 dead. (Photo by Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images)

Medics move a wounded man near the Boulevard des Filles-du-Calvaire after an attack November 13, 2013 in Paris, France. Gunfire and explosions in multiple locations erupted in the French capital with early casualty reports indicating at least 60 dead. (Photo by Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images)

by Al Jazeera

A state of emergency has been declared across France after attacks in Paris killed at least 128 people, in what President Francois Holland said was an “act of war” organised by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

Four gunmen killed at least 80 young people attending a rock concert at the Bataclan music hall on Friday evening, city hall officials said. Heavily armed policemen eventually launched an assault on the building.

The gunmen detonated explosive belts and dozens of shocked survivors were rescued. The attackers were killed at the site and a manhunt is under way as a number of armed men are believed to be at large.

About 40 more people were killed in five other attacks in the Paris region, officials said, including an apparent triple suicide bombing outside the national stadium, Stade de France.

Hollande and the German foreign minister were watching a friendly football match between France and Germany there when the attacks occurred.

The coordinated assault came as France, a member of the US-led coalition waging air strikes against ISIL fighters in Syria and Iraq, was on high alert for attacks.

ISIL video

The ISIL group released an undated video on Saturday threatening to attack France if bombings of its fighters in the Middle East continued.

The group’s foreign media arm, Al-Hayat Media Centre, made the threat through a man who called on French Muslims to carry out attacks.

“As long as you keep bombing you will not live in peace. You will even fear travelling to the market,” said the bearded Arabic-speaking man, flanked by others.

Paris Public Prosecutor Francois Molins said the death toll was at least 128 and that about 200 people were injured, 90 of them seriously.

His spokeswoman said eight assailants had also died, seven of whom had blown themselves up with explosive belts at various locations, while one had been shot dead by police.

As France awakened on Saturday, security was tight across the capital, where about 1,500 soldiers were deployed, leave was cancelled for police personnel and hospitals recalled staff to cope with the casualties.

Three restaurants and a shopping centre were also targeted in shooting attacks.

Reports also said that Paris has cancelled all public transportation services including the Metro on Saturday, as French newspapers decried a “War in the heart of Paris” with black mastheads.

The deadliest attack was on the Bataclan, a popular concert venue where the California rock group Eagles of Death Metal was performing.

The concert hall is just a few hundred metres from the former offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, target of a deadly attack by gunmen in January.

Some witnesses in the hall said they heard the gunmen shout Islamic chants and slogans condemning France’s role in Syria.

“It was carnage in that concert hall,” freelance journalist John Laurenson told Al Jazeera from Paris, adding that the death toll was higher than initially announced.

Julien Pearce, a journalist from Europe 1 radio, was inside the concert hall when the shooting began.

In an eye witness report posted on the station’s website, Pearce said several very young individuals, who were not wearing masks, entered the hall during the concert, armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles and started “blindly shooting at the crowd”.

“There were bodies everywhere,” he said.

The gunmen shot their victims in the back, finishing some off at point-blank range before reloading their guns and firing again, Pearce said, after escaping into the street by a stage door, carrying a wounded girl on his shoulder.

In a separate incident, police said a gunman opened fire with a Kalashnikov at a Cambodian restaurant called Le Petit Cambodge late on Friday, killing at least 14 people who were sitting at the outdoor terrace in the popular Charonne area in the capital’s 10th district.

The prosecutor mentioned five locations in close proximity where shootings took place around the same time.

Residents in Paris were asked to stay indoors as attackers could still be on the loose, French media reported.

Al Jazeera’s Jacky Rowland, reporting from Paris, said: “Certainly from the very first moment the police were searching from various other bars and restaurants they were asking people to clear out bars and restaurants in the area. Clearly, police are very concerned about other potential targets.”

Police evacuated people from all bars and restaurants in the area of the 10th and 11th arrondissement, a part of Paris popular with young people and tourists.

Madeline Berry, who was dining at a restaurant in the area, told Al Jazeera: “I was just having dinner with some friends. All the sudden we noticed people moving to the back of the restaurant.

“They basically shut the shutters of the restaurant and turned the music off. People are calling their families, everyone is on the mobile phones calling their families.”

Wounded people were evacuated from the scene of a hostage situation at the Bataclan theatre in Paris [Yoan Valat/EPA]

Two explosions were heard near the Stade de France in the northern suburb of Saint-Denis, where the France-Germany friendly soccer match was being played. The blasts were audible on television during the live broadcast.

A witness said one of the detonations blew people into the air outside a McDonald’s restaurant opposite the stadium.

The match continued until the end, but panic broke out in the crowd as rumours of the attack spread, and spectators were held in the stadium and assembled spontaneously on the pitch.

Police helicopters circled the stadium as Hollande was rushed back to the interior ministry to deal with the situation.

“We have, on my decision, mobilised all forces possible to neutralise the terrorists and make all concerned areas safe. I have also asked for military reinforcements. They are currently in the Paris area, to ensure that no new attack can take place,” Hollande said in a television statement after an emergency cabinet meeting.

International condemnation 

US President Barack Obama called the attacks in Paris “outrageous” and said the US was united with France.

“Once again we’ve seen an outrageous attempt to terrorise innocent civilians,” Obama told reporters at the White House.

“We stand prepared and ready to provide whatever assistance that the government and the people of France need,” he said, and pledged to “bring these terrorists to justice and go after any terrorist networks” involved.

“Those who think that they can terrorise the people of France or the values that they stand for are wrong,” Obama said.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was “shocked” by the events in Paris.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the French people. We will do whatever we can to help,” he wrote on Twitter.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was “profoundly shocked” by the attacks.

“At this time, my thoughts are with the victims of these apparently terrorist attacks, and with their families and all residents of Paris,” Merkel said in a statement.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from Pennsylvania, Malcolm Nance, a security and intelligence consultant, said it was likely that either IISIL or al-Qaeda was behind the attacks.

“We shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that this is actually an occurrence almost every day throughout the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. We just had an attack in Beirut which killed almost 40 people; we had a bombing of a Russian airliner over Egypt,” he said.

“These mass-casualty attacks are hallmarks of al-Qaeda and the ISIL organisation. It appears now that the battlefront has moved from the Middle East and is now at the forefront of the Atlantic Ocean.”

Football fans at the Stade de France after the international friendly match between France and Germany [The Associated Press]

France bus crash leaves dozens of elderly dead

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At least 42 people killed after bus collides with truck and catches fire in country’s worst road accident since 1982.

france-bus-crash

by Al Jazeera

At least 42 people have been killed in a collision between a bus and truck near the southwestern town of Libourne, officials said.

The bus caught fire in the Friday morning crash that also left the driver of the truck dead.

Images shown on French television showed the coach as a charred shell that had been entirely burned.

Five surviving passengers were brought to hospital with injuries while three others were unharmed, local authorities said.

The interior ministry said the bus was carrying elderly from a nearby village going on excursion.

Local politician Florent Boudie, who had visited the accident site, told BFM-TV that it was unclear what had caused the accident. He said the authorities were considering high speed and weather conditions as
potential factors.

Scores of emergency workers from the region were mobilised to the scene.

The incident was France’s worst road accident since 1982.

“The French government has fully mobilised after this terrible tragedy,” President Francois Hollande said from Athens, where he is on an official visit.

“We are plunged into sadness due to this drama.”

Malaysia seeks help to widen MH370 search

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Malaysia asks Indian Ocean islands around Reunion to search for plane debris after wing part confirmed from Boeing 777.

The wing flap was found on Wednesday on the French island of La Reunion [AP]

The wing flap was found on Wednesday on the French island of La Reunion [AP]

by Al Jazeera

Malaysia will seek help from territories near the Indian Ocean island where a suspected wing part from the missing Malaysia Airlines jet was discovered in an attempt to find more plane debris.

A new piece of debris, meanwhile, found on Sunday on the French island of Reunion did not belong to a plane, Malaysian Director General of Civil Aviation Azharuddin Abdul Rahman told news agencies AP and AFP, amid reports that a new part was found.

Rahman, who is in France for the analysis of the wing part, told AFP one item “was actually from a domestic ladder. It is not a door”.

And a source close to the investigation in Paris said “no object or debris likely to come from a plane” had been placed into evidence on Sunday.

Identified as from Boeing 777

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai told AFP that civil aviation authorities were reaching out to their counterparts in other Indian Ocean territories to be on the lookout for further debris that could provide “more clues to the missing aircraft”.

He had confirmed in a statement that the wing part had been “officially identified” as from a Boeing 777 – making it likely that it was from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight, as MH370 is the only missing Boeing 777.

The identification was verified by French authorities together with Boeing, the US National Transportation Safety Board and a Malaysian team.

The wing flap was found on Wednesday on Reunion. It arrived on Saturday at a French military testing facility for analysis by experts.

Experts will try to establish whether the part comes specifically from Flight 370, which disappeared on March 8, 2014, while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, about two-thirds of whom were Chinese.

The experts are expected to start their inquiry on Wednesday. On Monday, an investigating judge will meet with Malaysian authorities and representatives of the French aviation investigative agency, known as the BEA.

Liow said Malaysia’s Department of Civil Aviation was reaching out to authorities in territories near Reunion to allow experts “to conduct more substantive analysis should there be more debris coming on to land, providing us [with] more clues to the missing aircraft”.

“I urge all parties to allow this crucial investigation process to take its course. I reiterate this is for the sake of the next of kin of the loved ones of MH370 who would be anxiously awaiting news and have suffered much over this time,” Liow said. “We will make an announcement once the verification process has been completed.”

Backed by popular mandate, Greece submits new deal for dignity and debt relief

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Meanwhile, dueling rallies are taking place in Athens on Thursday and Friday

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras reportedly told the Greek Parliament on Thursday to brace for 'compromise'. (Photo: Martin Schulz/flickr/cc)

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras reportedly told the Greek Parliament on Thursday to brace for ‘compromise’. (Photo: Martin Schulz/flickr/cc)

by Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams

The Greek government on Thursday evening approved a package of specific reform measures it will present to foreign creditors in an effort to break an impasse that has raised questions about austerity and democracy across the European continent.

While details were not immediately made public, early news reports suggested the reform plan could include “punitive” measures such as at least €12 billion of cuts and tax increases—all in exchange for debt relief.

According to the Guardian:

Parliament is expected to endorse the package after a frantic few days of negotiation that followed a landmark referendum last Sunday in which Greek voters backed the radical leftist Syriza government’s call for debt relief.

Syriza, which is in coalition with the rightwing populist Independent party, is expected to meet huge opposition from within its own ranks and from trade unions and youth groups that viewed the referendum as a vote against any austerity.

Panagiotis Lafazanis, the energy minister and influential hard-leftist, who on Wednesday welcomed a deal for a new €2bn gas pipeline from Russia, has ruled out a new tough austerity package.

Lafazanis represents around 70 Syriza MPs who have previously taken a hard line against further austerity measures and could yet wreck any top-level agreement.

As the Guardian‘s Helena Smith argued: “The irony has not been lost on anyone… that after the Greeks’ resounding rejection of further biting austerity at the weekend, prime minister Alexis Tsipras has with lightning speed now agreed to put his name to the most punitive austerity package any government has been asked to implement during the five years of economic crisis in Greece.”

Indeed, the UK’s Telegraph adds that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras “has now reportedly told his parliament to brace themselves for ‘compromise’.”

Still, “[t]he concession would allow Mr. Tsipras to sell the deal as a face-saving measure after the Greek people delivered a ‘No’ to the previous bail-out terms, which provided no explicit promise to debt relief,” Telegraph journalist Mehreen Khan wrote on Thursday.

Tsipras and his Syriza government have long said that easing the country’s debt would restore “dignity” to impoverished Greeks.

The new proposal will be studied on a technical level by the so-called Troika—the European Central Bank, the European Union, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)—on Friday, followed by further discussions among Eurozone finance ministers on Saturday and a full EU summit on Sunday.

It is not yet clear how these stakeholders will respond to Greece’s pitch. European Council president Donald Tusk said Thursday that any “realistic proposal from Athens needs to be matched by realistic proposal from creditors on debt sustainability to create [a] win-win situation”—suggesting he, like the IMF, supports the idea of debt relief.

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was in Bosnia on Thursday, continues to rule out slashing the face value of Greece’s government debt, saying a so-called “haircut” on Greek loans was out of the question.

The BBC‘s Hugh Schofield argues that “at this dramatic juncture Greece looks to France as its last remaining hope.”

Schofield continues:

As one by one other EU governments have accepted the likelihood of an impending Greek departure, France cleaves to the imperative of compromise.

On Wednesday, even as Mr Tsipras addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Prime Minister Manuel Valls was telling a debate in the French National Assembly that keeping Greece in the EU was of “utmost geostrategic and geopolitical importance” and that a deal was “within grasp”.

Reporting from Athens, the Guardian‘s Smith adds: “Officials here are saying that all hope now rests with the French connection. Paris has dispatched a team of technocrats to help finance minister Euclid Tsakalotos draft the new proposal in an effort to ensure it is as convincing as can possibly be.”

Meanwhile, dueling rallies are slated to take place in Athens on Thursday and Friday, amidst ongoing negotiations between Greek officials and foreign creditors over debt relief and austerity, and ahead of the weekend meetings that could decide Greece’s future in the Eurozone.

Declaring “We’re staying in Europe,” Greeks who favor a harsh, Troika-proposed bailout deal—albeit at the cost of more cuts and austerity—will converge outside Parliament at 7:30 pm local time on Thursday.

The following day—same time, same place—”No” supporters, who won a landslide victory in Sunday’s referendum, will hold an anti-austerity rally under the slogan “Hands off democracy.”

A Guardian analysis published Thursday offers an indication of who might be in attendance at each demonstration. The Guardian‘s interactive map shows that while last week’s vote indeed reflected divisions between the old and young, it also split along class lines, with the nation’s poor voting overwhelmingly against the austerity package, and rich people voting “Yes.”

France rejects asylum request from WikiLeaks’ Assange

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President’s office says WikiLeaks founder did not face “immediate danger”, in response to Assange’s request for asylum.

Julian Assange faces allegations by two women of rape and sexual assault, which he denies [AP]

Julian Assange faces allegations by two women of rape and sexual assault, which he denies [AP]

by Al Jazeera

The French government has rejected an asylum request from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, saying he did not face “immediate danger”.

In a letter to the French President, Assange described himself as a “journalist pursued and threatened with death by the United States’ authorities as a result of my professional activities”.

He asked in the letter, published on Friday in Le Monde newspaper, to be granted asylum by France.

Hours later, the office of President Francois Hollande responded in a statement that read: “France cannot act on his request”.

“The situation of Mr Assange does not present an immediate danger. Furthermore, he is subject to a European arrest warrant,” Hollande’s office said.

Assange, who turned 44 on Friday, has spent over three years holed up in Ecuador’s embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces allegations by two women, one of rape and one of sexual assault, which he denies.

The former computer hacker fears extradition to Sweden could lead to him being transferred to the US to face trial over WikiLeaks’ publication of classified US military and diplomatic documents.

France says US spying on presidents is 'unacceptable'

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Office of President Hollande says “it will not tolerate” acts by a foreign government that threaten France’s security.

French President Francois Hollande called a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the latest WikiLeaks report of US spying [EPA]

French President Francois Hollande called a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the latest WikiLeaks report of US spying [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

The French government has denounced as “unacceptable” reports that the US wiretapped current leader Francois Hollande and former presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the office of the French president said it “will not tolerate any acts, which jeopardise its safety and the protection of its interest.”

“Commitments were made by the US authorities,” the Elysee Palace said in a statement, referring to promises by the US in late 2013 not to spy on France’s leaders. “They must be remembered and strictly respected.”

The statement followed a meeting of France’s defence council called by President Hollande in response to the release of the documents by WikiLeaks on Tuesday.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has also summoned the US ambassador to France, Jane Hartley for a Wednesday afternoon meeting to discuss the report.

Opposition leader Marine Le Pen also said the wiretapping incidents prove that the US is not an ally of France, and called for suspension of trade talks with Washington DC.

French newspaper Liberation and the Mediapart website reported on Tuesday that the spying spanned 2006 to 2012, quoting documents classed as “Top Secret” which include five reports from the US National Security Agency based on intercepted communications.

The most recent document is dated May 22, 2012, just days before Hollande took office, and reveals that the French leader “approved holding secret meetings in Paris to discuss the eurozone crisis, particularly the consequences of a Greek exit from the eurozone”.

Another document dated 2008 was titled “Sarkozy sees himself as only one who can resolve world financial crisis”.

Spy scheme reviewed

Ever since documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden showed in 2013 that the NSA had been eavesdropping on the mobile phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, it had been understood that the US had been using the digital spying agency to intercept the conversations of allied politicians.

Still, the new revelations are bound to cause diplomatic embarrassment for the US, even though it is not uncommon that allies spy on each other.

Hollande said last year that he discussed his concerns about NSA surveillance with President Barack Obama during a visit to the US, and they patched up their differences.

After the Merkel disclosures, Obama ordered a review of NSA spying on allies, after officials suggested that senior White House officials had not approved many operations that were largely on auto-pilot. After the review, American officials said Obama had ordered a halt to spying on the leaders of allied countries, if not their aides.

Neither Hollande’s office nor Washington would comment on the new leaks. Contacted Tuesday by AFP, Hollande’s aide said: “We will see what it is about.”

US State Department spokesman John Kirby meanwhile said: “We do not comment on the veracity or content of leaked documents.”

WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said he was confident the documents were authentic, noting that WikiLeaks previous mass disclosures have proven to be accurate.

The release appeared to be timed to coincide with a vote in the French Parliament on a bill allowing broad new surveillance powers, in particular to counter terrorist threats.

CAR to sue French soldiers over alleged sex crimes

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Justice minister announces case against soldiers accused of raping children in exchange for food at a refugee camp.

A UN report detailed interviews with six children, aged eight to 15, who approached the French soldiers to ask for food [EPA]

A UN report detailed interviews with six children, aged eight to 15, who approached the French soldiers to ask for food [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

The Central African Republic will take legal action against the French soldiers accused of raping children in exchange for food at a refugee camp, the country’s justice minister has said.

“Legal action will be pursued … These are still very serious acts,” said Justice Minister Aristide Sokambi on Wednesday, insisting his nation was not targeting France but individual soldiers.

Several children – the youngest just nine – allege that 14 soldiers dispatched to the impoverished nation as part of a peacekeeping force sexually abused some of them in exchange for food between December 2013 and June 2014.

“We regret the fact we were not brought into these investigations despite the cooperation agreements we have with France,” Sokambi added.

“So I have instructed the public prosecutor to open a probe and seek the evidence already at the disposal of the French.”

French troops were deployed to the Central African Republic in December 2013 to help African Union peacekeepers restore order after a bout of sectarian violence triggered by a coup.

Hundreds of troops were stationed at Bangui’s M’Poko airport, which was transformed into a giant refugee camp.

Most of the displaced families living amid the abandoned planes had lost everything in the conflict, which pitted mainly Muslim rebels against vigilantes from the majority Christian population.

Paris investigates

Prosecutors in Paris have opened an investigation into the reports, with France’s defence ministry pledging to take “all the measures necessary for the truth to come out”.

The defence ministry has said it immediately launched a probe into the case, sending police investigators to the former French colony on August 1 after receiving the news.

The ministry has denied attempting to cover up a potentially devastating scandal. The allegations were contained in an internal UN report that was leaked to French authorities last summer by a UN official.

If proven, the allegations will not only affect the French army but also the Central African Republic, which is trying to find a way out of a conflict that has killed thousands and displaced nearly 900,000 people.

Many people living in the camp at M’Poko airport had lost their livelihoods to the violence.

Hunger in the camp became so widespread that riots often broke out when food was distributed.

Germany accused of spying on France and engaging in industrial espionage on behalf of NSA

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germany-accused-of-eavesdropping-on-top-french-officials-and-engaging-in-industrial-espionage-on-behalf-of-the-nsa

by Melodie Bouchaud, Vice

Remember German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s outrage at having her cell phone tapped by the NSA, after whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked the evidence? She accused the NSA of being “like the Stasi.”

Now, it’s been revealed that Germany’s foreign intelligence agency BND spied on senior French and European officials on behalf of the US’s National Security Agency (NSA), according to the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ).

SZ reports that the BND used its satellite tracking station in Bavaria — which famously resembles a field of oversized golf balls — to eavesdrop on members of the French foreign affairs ministry, the office of the French presidency, and the European Commission.

But leaked reports that surfaced in the German media this week indicate that the NSA also relied on Germany to conduct industrial espionage on a number of European firms, as early as 2008. According to the BBC, Washington was checking for violations of trade agreements.

Germany first started sharing data with the US in 2002 under Frank-Walter Steinmeier, then chief of staff to former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. The aim of the 2002 Memorandum of Agreement between Germany and the US was to strengthen cooperation on intelligence in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks and to combat global terrorism.

Asked to spy on companies like European aerospace and defense corporation EADS or helicopter manufacturer Eurocopter, BND employees apparently didn’t take long to figure out they were engaging in industrial espionage rather than the war on terror.

According to German news weekly Der Spiegel, BND employees alerted German higher-ups as early as 2008, and again in 2010, that the NSA’s intelligence requests exceeded the counterterrorism mandate of the original agreement.

Der Spiegel claims that, of the 690,000 phone numbers and 7.8 million IP addresses cleared for surveillance, 40,000 fell outside of the counterterrorism remit of the German-American intelligence pact. The US was not “solely interested in terrorism,” wrote the German weekly, but “used [Germany’s] technological resources to spy on western European companies and firms.”

German media has reported that the government turned a blind eye to NSA spying so that it might continue to receive US counterterrorism information.

On Wednesday, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere — who was responsible for the BND at the time — denied the government had lied to the German parliament about supposedly known breaches to the agreement. De Maiziere, who has been accused of lying by the German media, was pictured Wednesday on the cover of German tabloid newspaper Bild with an elongated Pinocchio nose.

The spying allegations are particularly embarrassing for Merkel, who commented at the time it was revealed that her cell phone was tapped that “spying between friends is simply unacceptable.” She’s been branded hypocritical, particularly in light of Germany’s political collaboration with France, which is also known as the “Franco-German Friendship.” Merkelhas vowed to “bring everything out into the open.”

French soldiers accused of raping CAR children

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Prosecutors investigate accusations that troops in Central African Republic abused children they were sent to protect.

A UN report detailed interviews with six children, aged eight to 15, who approached the French soldiers to ask for food [EPA]

A UN report detailed interviews with six children, aged eight to 15, who approached the French soldiers to ask for food [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

France is investigating allegations that its peacekeepers sexually abused children in the Central African Republic after a leaked UN report said victims as young as eight were raped in exchange for food and money.

The French government “was made aware at the end of July 2014 by the UN’s high commissioner for human rights of accusations by children that they had been sexually abused by French soldiers”, the defence ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

An investigation was opened shortly after by Paris prosecutors, it said.

The defence ministry vowed to take measures to ensure that “the truth be found” and said “the strongest penalties” would be imposed on those found responsible.

The abuse was alleged by around 10 children, the ministry said, and reportedly took place at a centre for displaced people near the airport of the capital Bangui between December 2013 and June 2014.

UN spokesman Farhan Haq confirmed that UN rights investigators had conducted a probe last year following “serious allegations” of child abuse and sexual exploitation by French troops, and had suspended a staff member for leaking the report in July.

The report was given to Britain’s The Guardian newspaper by the US-based advocacy group AIDS-Free World, which is calling for a commission of inquiry to be set up on sexual misconduct by peacekeepers.

Al Jazeera’s Diplomatic Editor James Bays, reporting from the UN headquarters in New York, said that even though the French military said an investigation was under way on their behalf, the incident is potentially embarrassing for the UN.

“Until now, the one person who has been punished for anything is that UN human rights official who raised the alarm,” he said.

Children searching for food

Paula Donovan, co-director of AIDS-Free World, said the report detailed interviews with six children, aged eight to 15, who approached the French soldiers to ask for food.

“The children were saying that they were hungry and they thought that they could get some food from the soldiers. The answer was ‘if you do this, then I will give you food’,” Donovan told AFP news agency.

“Different kids used different language.”

The report by the UN human rights office was commissioned amid fears of sexual abuse against children last year as tens of thousands were displaced by fighting and unrest in the country.

The UN employee accused of the leak, Swedish national Anders Kompass, is based in Geneva and turned the report over to French authorities because his bosses had failed to take action, The Guardian reported.

He has been suspended and faces dismissal for breaching protocol, the paper said.

But UN officials said Kompass passed on the confidential document before it was presented to senior officials in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, suggesting that senior UN officials were not even aware of the report’s findings when it was leaked.

“This constitutes a serious breach of protocol, which, as is well known to all OHCHR officials, requires redaction of any information that could endanger victims, witnesses and investigators,” said Haq.

While the UN did not identify the source of the leak, it asserted that “such conduct does not constitute whistleblowing”.

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