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You are here: Home / Archives for Central African Republic

International peacekeepers ‘forced Central African Republic girls into sex with dog’

April 1, 2016 by Nasheman

French soldiers patrol a street in Bangui [AFP]

French soldiers patrol a street in Bangui [AFP]

by Al Jazeera

The United Nations announced 108 new sexual abuse cases allegedly by international peacekeepers in Central African Republic (CAR) with the vast majority of victims being children.

A report by a US-based advocacy group said three girls in CAR told UN staff they were tied up and forced to have sex with a dog by a French military commander in 2014.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Thursday called the allegations “shocking to the core” and promised “exemplary disciplinary action” if they’re proven true.

France’s UN Ambassador Francois Delattre called the allegations “sickening and odious”.

The accusations, dating from 2013 through last year, were first announced by the group AIDS-Free World late on Wednesday.

Dujarric told reporters the UN can’t confirm the allegations involving the dog at this point, but investigations continue.

“This issue has been out there in the public for almost a year [but] the allegations keep on coming,” said Al Jazeera’s James Bays, reporting from the United Nations in New York.

“People who were sent to protect the civilians are in fact becoming the perpetrators.”

A report published in late January condemned the UN for failing to respond to allegations of child abuse against peacekeepers in the Central African Republic.

The independent investigation said the UN’s handling of the case was “seriously flawed”, accusing it of not taking the required action after the alleged abuse of young boys by French soldiers became known.
AIDS-Free World said 98 girls in CAR reported being sexually abused between 2013 and 2015 by perpetrators who have left the country.

It also said information on the alleged rape of a 16-year-old girl by a Congolese peacekeeper only three days ago in a hotel room has been turned over to the United Nations.

The UN has been in the spotlight for months over dozens of allegations of child rape and other sexual abuses by its peacekeepers, especially those based in CAR, which has faced sectarian violence since 2013.

Similar allegations have surfaced against the French force known as Sangaris, which operates independently in the country.

“We must face the fact that a number of troops sent to protect people instead acted with hearts of darkness,” Dujarric said.

The UN human rights chief, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, in a statement called the allegations “sickening”.

He said all three countries whose peacekeepers are accused – Burundi, Gabon and France – have been formally notified.

Governments must do more to stop abuse and hold their troops accountable, “otherwise this awful cycle of abuse will never end”, Hussein said.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Central African Republic

UN warns of hunger crisis in Central African Republic

March 2, 2016 by Nasheman

WFP says it only has about half of the funds needed to help 2.5 million people who are facing acute food shortages.

Families have been forced to sell their possessions, pull their children out of school and even resort to begging [AP]

Families have been forced to sell their possessions, pull their children out of school and even resort to begging [AP]

by Al Jazeera

At least half of the population or 2.5 million people in the Central African Republic are facing a hunger crisis, in a situation that has become dire, the World Food Programme said.

Bienvenu Djossa, WFP country director in CAR, said on Tuesday that the number of people battling hunger had doubled from 2015 and serious interventions had to be implemented to ensure the crisis did not deteriorate.

“It is serious. The situation is worse than last year,” Djossa said a statement.

“It is crucial that we continue helping the most vulnerable, who need emergency food assistance to survive. This is the time when people need the maximum help possible as it is also the lean season, when people struggle to have enough food to eat before the next harvest.”

Three years of bloodshed and the displacement of nearly one million people from their homes have disrupted harvests and sent food prices soaring in the volatile country.

The WFP’s call for CAR not to be forgotten comes as the UN revealed that overall crop production in 2015 remained 54 percent below the pre-crisis average.

“Some 75 percent of people in CAR depend on agriculture, and with the planting season starting in less than two months, boosting agriculture now is crucial to revitalising the economy and to stability in the country,” FAO Country Representative Jean-Alexandre Scaglia said in a press release on Monday.

The WFP said that families are so short of food that children receiving school meals under the WFP’s emergency programme put part of their serving in a plastic bag to take home.

Families have been forced to sell their possessions, pull their children out of school and even resort to begging.

The country suffered the worst crisis in its history in early 2013 when mainly Muslim Seleka fighters toppled then leader Francois Bozize. Christian militias responded by attacking the Muslim minority.

Killing and looting had almost halved the number of cattle and reduced the number of sheep and goats by almost 60 percent, the UN said. Damage to infrastructure and insecurity had also hit fishing.

An escalation of violence in September helped exacerbate a massive increase in food prices, the agencies said, with the price of beef almost double pre-crisis levels.

WFP said it had only secured about half the $89m it needs until the end of July to respond to the needs of 1.4 million people in CAR and neighbouring countries hosting CAR refugees.

Filed Under: Muslim World Tagged With: Central African Republic

Congo to probe alleged sex abuse by peacekeeers in CAR

February 6, 2016 by Nasheman

Republic of Congo launches investigation after UN sends troops home following new allegations of sex abuse in CAR.

The allegations are the latest in a barrage of claims of troops assaulting civilians they are supposed to protect in CAR [Reuters]

The allegations are the latest in a barrage of claims of troops assaulting civilians they are supposed to protect in CAR [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

The Republic of Congo has launched an investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse involving its troops serving as UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic (CAR).

“Under a memorandum of understanding between the Congolese government and the office of the UN secretary general it has been decided that an administrative inquiry will be carried out,” Communications Minister Thierry Moungalla said on Friday.

The defence ministry will lead the investigation and “verify the veracity of the allegations”, after Human Rights Watch (HRW) brought the cases to the attention of MINUSCA, the UN’s stabilisation mission in CAR.

MINUSCA said it had “identified seven new possible victims of sexual exploitation and abuse in Bambari”, in the centre of the country, involving soldiers from the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

A UN probe “found sufficient initial evidence that five of the victims were minors and had been sexually abused and that one adult had been sexually exploited”, MINUSCA said in a statement.

Following the claims, the UN said it would repatriate 120 peacekeepers from the Republic of Congo, a month after asking DRC to send home its contingent.

On Thursday, HRW released a statement documenting eight new allegations of rape or sexual exploitation by UN troops in the same region of Bambari.

All eight survivors said that they believed the peacekeepers responsible were from the Republic of Congo or the DRC, according to HRW, which alleged the abuse took place between October and December 2015.

MINUSCA said one of the allegations passed on by HRW had been previously reported and is currently under investigation.

“Among the survivors are a 14-year-old girl and an 18-year-old woman who said peacekeepers gang-raped them near Bambari airport in the center of the country,” HRW said.

CAR is struggling to recover from a cycle of violence that began after a 2013 coup, pitting mainly Muslim rebels against Christian militias, but international peacekeeping efforts have been undermined by a string of sex abuse claims.

Moungalla said Brazzaville had a “zero tolerance” policy on rights abuses and would “roundly condemn” the abuse if proven by the investigation.

The allegations are the latest in a barrage of claims of troops assaulting civilians they are supposed to protect in CAR.

While most of the cases concern UN peacekeepers, France’s Sangaris force and the EU’s EUFOR mission have also been accused of similar crimes.

Filed Under: Muslim World Tagged With: Central African Republic, Congo

Fresh abuse allegations against UN peacekeepers in CAR

January 6, 2016 by Nasheman

Investigation is launched into claims that UN peacekeepers sexually abused four underage girls in capital Bangui.

The UN mission to the Central African Republic is made up of 11,000 peacekeepers [Andrew Medichini/AP Photo]

The UN mission to the Central African Republic is made up of 11,000 peacekeepers [Andrew Medichini/AP Photo]

by Al Jazeera

The United Nations has launched a fact-finding mission into new allegations that its peacekeepers sexually abused four underage girls in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR).

The UN mission in CAR, known as MINUSCA, said in a statement on Tuesday that it was “investigating fresh allegations concerning both sexual exploitation and abuse and other misconduct by UN Peacekeepers and international forces in Bangui”.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, said that the four victims had been provided with medical and psychosocial care, but did not specify when the alleged abuse took place or how many peacekeepers were involved in the case.

In line with UN policy not to name the countries whose peacekeepers were accused of sexual misconduct, Dujarric did not say where the peacekeepers were from.

He added, however, that the UN had asked the countries to immediately launch their own investigations – nations are responsible for holding their own troops accountable in such cases.

Series of allegations

The new allegations follow a series of sexual abuse claims lodged against UN peacekeepers in CAR in 2015.

In December, an independent panel sharply criticised the UN response to claims of child abuse that allegedly took place in a centre for displaced people near Bangui airport between December 2013 and June 2014.

The panel’s report said that the UN had failed to properly vet peacekeepers for past abuses and needed to do more to protect children.

The latest allegations in CAR have prompted discussions over the establishment of a special police force to help patrol camps and other high-risk areas, the UN said.

Other measures announced include the establishment of a joint brigade Police-Force to identify SEA perpetrators as well as whistleblowers.

— MINUSCA (@UN_CAR) January 5, 2016

Earlier in 2015, the UN released a report documenting allegations of sex abuse in a number of countries in which peacekeepers had operated, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Haiti and South Sudan.
The report said 480 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse had been made between 2008 and 2013, of which a third involved minors.

The UN mission to CAR is made up of 11,000 peacekeepers. There are also some 5,600 African Union (AU) peacekeepers and an additional 2,000 French troops in the country.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Central African Republic

CAR’s Bangui tense as communal strife kills scores

September 28, 2015 by Nasheman

Sporadic gunfire and looting reported in the capital as government says clashes are aimed at derailing elections.

Voters are due to elect a new president and parliament in October to replace an interim government [EPA]

Voters are due to elect a new president and parliament in October to replace an interim government [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

Renewed violence between Muslim and Christian communities in the Central African Republic has killed at least 36 people and wounded at least 80 more, according to hospital workers.

Sporadic gunfire could be heard in the capital, Bangui, on Monday, with journalists also citing multiple reports of widespread looting in the city, suggesting that tensions that began on Saturday had yet to subside.

On Sunday, Doctors without Borders (MSF) said in a statement that their teams working in the city’s Mpoko camp, Castor hospital and Hopital General had been pressed to activate mass-casualty plans to cope with an influx of the injured.

“In total MSF received 75 wounded patients, and the teams stabilised patients and performed 15 surgeries,” MSF said.

Emmanuel Lampaert, MSF head of mission in Central African Republic, said: “It’s very sad to see violence of such a scale occur once again, as we haven’t experienced anything like this since October last year.

#CAR: @MSF Treats 75 Wounded Following fresh eruption of violence in Bangui #CARcrisis pic.twitter.com/rvHmTH6u7h

— MSF PICTURE DESK (@MSF_PictureDesk) September 28, 2015

“All our teams in Bangui were mobilised and have worked intensively to provide care to those who were wounded. We continue to monitor the situation closely in case violence would erupt again.”

Ousmane Abakar, a Muslim community leader, said fighting began early on Saturday as Muslims attacked a Christian neighbourhood in Bangui after the body of a Muslim man was left near a mosque.

The government on Sunday announced a 6pm to 6am curfew to curtail the violence.

Earlier on Sunday, Christian anti-Balaka militia members were on the streets, retaliating for the previous day’s violence.

Tear gas used

Sunday’s clashes were aimed at derailing elections scheduled to take place next month, the government said.

Angry young men used tree trunks to block Bangui’s main arteries early on Sunday.

Soldiers from the UN peacekeeping mission, MINUSCA, fired tear gas at crowds in an unsuccessful attempt to clear the roads.

Thousands of Central Africans have died and hundreds of thousands remain displaced after two years of violence that erupted after mainly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in the majority Christian country in 2013.

Seleka abuses prompted reprisals by anti-Balaka fighters that drove most Muslims from the south in a de-facto partition of the country.

Protesters alleged that UN and French forces did little to intervene in Saturday’s violence and called for the sidelined Central African army, the FACA, to assume responsibility for security.

“We are calling for a civil disobedience movement starting now and we demand the immediate redeployment, without conditions, of the FACA,” Gervais Lakossa, a civil society leader, said.

#CARcrisis: Some want President Samba-Panza to step down, many others want her to stay @JBKtweets tells @RFI_English https://t.co/B0OWCCo5Jc

— Daniel Finnan (@Daniel_Finnan) September 27, 2015

Anti-Balaka fighters armed with assault rifles and machetes were seen on Bangui’s streets on Sunday as many city residents fled their homes for protected displacement camps.

“The government asks the population not to cede to the manipulation of extremists who are seeking to set the country on fire to satisfy their selfish political ambitions,” Dominique Said Paguindji, CAR’s security minister, said on state radio.

Voters are due to elect a new president and parliament on October 18 to replace an interim government led by acting President Catherine Samba-Panza.

Despite lagging preparations and the renewed violence in the capital, Paguindji said the polls would go ahead as scheduled.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Bangui, Central African Republic

Clashes force 5,000 to flee after beheading in CAR

August 28, 2015 by Nasheman

Fresh violence in central town of Bambari comes ahead of planned presidential elections next month.

Over the past five months, thousands have been returning to CAR as the situation was seen to be improving [Getty]

Over the past five months, thousands have been returning to CAR as the situation was seen to be improving [Getty]

by Azad Essa, Al Jazeera

Around 5,000 people have fled from their homes in Bambari following clashes between rival militias over the past few days, demonstrating how fragile the situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) remains ahead of next month’s presidential election, the UN refugee agency has said.

The latest flare-up in Bambari erupted after a 19-year-old Muslim was beheaded by fighters on August 20, according to the UNHCR.

In a town hit hard by violence, the new set of clashes around Bambari prompted the escape of almost 5,000 people in recent days, seeking shelter at the UN’s nearby base.

“We cannot say the country is at peace – because the events in Bambari show how fragile the situation remains,” Dalia al-Achi, spokesperson for the UNHCR, told Al Jazeera on Friday.

“They are living in a [former] cotton factory [at the UN base] where there is no sanitation, lights or any infrastructure. It is not fit for living,” she said.

On Friday, Diane Corner, deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), said in a tweet that 5,000 people had been displaced and that  the protection of civilians remained the mission’s top priority.

With just over a month left before presidential elections are held in the country, experts are not convinced the country would be able to host credible polls.

More than one million people have been displaced since Muslim-led Seleka rebels took the capital, Bangui, in March 2013.

Following a spate of abuses by the Seleka, vigilante groups known as anti-Balaka (anti-machete), made up of animist and Christian fighters, emerged to fight off the new leadership.

They also targeted the country’s Muslim minority, seen as sympathetic to the Seleka.

The country has been run by a transitional government since January 2014, after the Seleka were forced out of the capital.

Over the past five months, thousands have been returning to CAR as the situation in the country was seen to be improving, but the recent violence is likely to undo a lot of the efforts being put into rebuilding the nation.

“More than half the districts of the Central African Republic continue to be controlled by the Seleka coalition and its allies, who have not allowed a return of the national administration to the areas they control,” Peter Bouckaert, emergency director at Human Rights Watch, said.

Bouckaert told Al Jazeera that the bloodshed may have reduced over the last twelve months, but attributed the drop in violence to the fact that most Muslims had been “forced to flee [and] not because the war is over”.

Bouckaert said that despite the obvious weaknesses of hosting presidential polls under the current conditions, the EU and France continue to push for the elections.

“The danger is that they see a quick and flawed election as an excuse to once again abandon the Central African Republic, with a claim that the country will then have made a ‘democratic transition’,” Bouckaert said.

“A very large percentage of the population, particularly Muslims living in refugee camps in Chad and Cameroon, but also many rural people, have not even been registered to vote yet, and preparation for a national vote has been minimal,” he said.

The UN says more than half the country’s population are still in need of aid, while 1.5 million people were affected by food insecurity.

In early August, the UN said that only 31 percent of the humanitarian appeal for the CAR had been secured. Aurelien Agbenonci, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in CAR, told Al Jazeera at the time that if more support was not forthcoming, the UN “won’t be able to continue humanitarian activities till the end of the year”.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Africa, CAR, Central African Republic, Christians, Genocide, Islam, Muslims

UN peacekeepers face new sex abuse allegations in CAR

August 20, 2015 by Nasheman

Three more accusations levelled against peacekeepers in CAR a week after Ban Ki-Moon asked UN head of mission to resign.

UN peacekeepers earlier had been accused of sexually abusing children in Bangui and in the eastern part of the country [AP]

UN peacekeepers earlier had been accused of sexually abusing children in Bangui and in the eastern part of the country [AP]

by Al Jazeera

Three young females, including a minor, have accused United Nations peacekeepers of raping them in the Central African Republic, the global body has announced, taking the number of allegations to 13 since the UN stationed troops in the country in September.

The announcement on Wednesday comes a week after Ban Ki-Moon, UN secretary-general, removed the head of the peacekeeping mission in CAR over the handling of a series of similar allegations in the conflict-wracked country.

Vannina Maestracci, spokesperson for the secretary general’s office, told reporters that families of the three young females made the allegations on August 12 and that the alleged rapes occurred in “recent weeks”.

Similarly, a statement from the peacekeeping mission said UN headquarters was “immediately informed” of the allegations and that it was collecting “all available evidence”.

The alleged rapes occurred in the city of Bambari, where peacekeepers from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are stationed.

The CAR is still battling daily clashes between rival militias in the country’s hinterlands [Reuters]

Congo’s UN ambassador, Ignace Gata Mavita wa Lufuta, told The Associated Press news agency that three members of Congo’s military have been accused and that he had just met with UN officials about looking into the allegations.

He didn’t address the allegations but said it’s “not normal” that vulnerable people would be victims of those meant to protect them.

Congo’s troops serve in no other UN peacekeeping missions, and its nearly 900 troops were accepted into the mission in CAR at a time when few countries were volunteering people to serve in the chaotic country, which has been ripped by unprecedented violence between Christians and Muslims.

Last August, the New York-based Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict said Congo’s troops, which were already in the country as part of an African Union mission, should be excluded from the UN mission.

The advocacy network pointed out that Congo’s armed forces have been noted in Ban’s annual report on conflict-related sexual violence. They were included again this year.

Last week, following the removal of the head of the CAR peacekeeping mission, Ban met with the Security Council and the heads of all UN peacekeeping missions to discuss new measures to swiftly investigate alleged sexual assaults and hold peacekeepers accountable.

Ban’s actions came after Amnesty International accused UN peacekeepers in CAR’s capital this month of indiscriminately killing a 16-year-old boy and his father and, in a separate incident, of raping a 12-year-old girl.

UN peacekeepers earlier had been accused of sexually abusing children in Bangui and in the eastern part of the country.

The peacekeeping mission is also being investigated over how it handled child sexual abuse allegations against French troops last year, in which children as young as nine said they had traded sex for food.

Maestracci, the UN spokeswoman, said that so far, the peacekeeping mission has received 13 allegations of possible sexual abuse and exploitation since UN troops began arriving last year.

Under an agreement with the UN, countries have the sole responsibility to prosecute their troops taking part in peacekeeping missions, but if they take no action to investigate, the UN can step in. Even then, the UN only has the power to repatriate troops and suspend payments to countries for troops who are accused.

In at least one case of alleged sexual abuse or exploitation by a peacekeeper in CAR, a country repatriated its accused citizen, the UN said.

Around 2.7 million people, more than half the population, are still in need of aid, while 1.5 million people were affected by food insecurity [AFP]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Central African Republic, Sexual Abuse

Muslims being ‘erased’ from Central African Republic

July 31, 2015 by Nasheman

Amnesty International says Muslims living in rural areas especially targeted as militias undertake “ethnic cleansing”.

Central African Republic

by Azad Essa, Al Jazeera

Militias have taken advantage of the political vacuum in Central African Republic (CAR), engaging in ethnic cleansing of Muslims in a bid to erase the community from the country, human rights group Amnesty International has said.

Discussing Friday’s report, entitled “Erased identity: Muslims in ethnically cleansed areas of the Central African Republic,” Joanne Mariner, a senior crisis response adviser at the UK-based organisation, told Al Jazeera that Muslims in the western half of the country were being repressed and forced to abandon their religion.

More than 30,000 Muslims are living in seven enclaves, guarded by UN troops, across the country, but for those living outside, especially in rural areas, they are being targeted with impunity, the report found.

“They not allowed to express themselves as Muslims; if they are outside the enclaves, they cannot pray, dress in any way that identifies them as Muslim,” Mariner said.

“Their survival depends on a daily routine of negotiation with anti-Balaka fighters.”

Mariner said that many had been forced convert to Christianity or face persecution from the community

‘Failed state’

More than one million people have been displaced since Muslim-led Seleka rebels took control of Bangui, the capital, in March 2013.

Following a spate of abuses by the Seleka rebels, vigilante groups known as anti-Balaka (anti-machete) emerged to fight off the new leadership.

But the anti-Balaka, made up of animist and Christian fighters, also targeted the country’s Muslim minority, seen as sympathetic to the Seleka.

Amnesty’s report, based on a series of interviews with residents across CAR, says militias “unleashed a violent wave of ethnic cleansing aimed at forcing Muslims to leave the country”.

“The continued insecurity and threat from the anti-Balaka comes from there being an absence of a state,” Mariner said.

Though violence in CAR has tapered off since late 2014, the country remains largely insecure.

The collapse of the state apparatus and the fragility of the transitional government have left parts of the country to the mercy of militia groups in the hinterlands.

Concerns remain that despite the perceived calm, the root causes of the crisis have yet to be addressed.

Amnesty’s report comes just days after the International Rescue Committee said CAR “needs a new start, or it will become the case study of a failed state”.

Destruction of mosques

In April, a US envoy said that almost all of the 436 mosques in CAR have been destroyed in the violence. Samantha Power, US ambassador to the UN, called the devastation “kind of crazy, chilling”.

Amnesty said in Friday’s report that none of the mosques outside Bangui, and the town of Carnot, have been repaired or rebuilt.

One of the “clearest signs of the intensity of sectarian animus was the destruction of the country’s mosques”, the organisation said.

More than 6,000 people have been killed since the crisis began in March 2013.

“The key challenge is a lack of security. The government understands they have a long way to go [but] they need to be able to assert control over these far flung areas,” Mariner said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said this week that more than 1,000 people were still looking for their loved ones, a year after after being separated from them during the wave of violence.

“In this part of the country, very few families have been spared the pain and uncertainty of being separated from loved ones,” Scott Doucet, head of the ICRC sub-delegation for the west of the country, said.

The UN says that that 2.7 million people, more than half the population, are still in need of aid, while 1.5 million people were affected by food insecurity.

The global body’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says humanitarian needs continue to exceed resources available.

Meanwhile Doctors without Borders (MSF) has previously described the country to be in a state of a protracted chronic health emergency.

CAR has been led by a transitional government since January 2014. The country is scheduled to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on October 18.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Africa, CAR, Central African Republic, Christians, Genocide, Islam, Muslims

CAR to sue French soldiers over alleged sex crimes

May 7, 2015 by Nasheman

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.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Central African Republic, Children, France, Sexual Abuse

French soldiers accused of raping CAR children

April 30, 2015 by Nasheman

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”.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Central African Republic, Children, France, Sexual Abuse

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