U.N. 'peacekeepers' rape women, children
Widespread sex scandal threatens to become 'United Nations' Abu Ghraib'
Posted: December 24, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern
2004 WorldNetDaily.com
With the United Nations already under fire for the Oil-for-Food mega-scandal
and other corruption, sensational allegations of rampant sexual exploitation
and rape of young girls and women by the U.N.'s so-called "peacekeepers" and
civilian staffers in the Congo is dragging the global body's reputation to an
all-time low.
In a new report referring to the widespread sex scandal as "the U.N.'s Abu
Ghraib," the London Times provides some specific examples, including:
A French U.N. logistics expert in the Congo shot pornographic videos in his
home, in which he had converted his bedroom into a photo studio for videotaping
his sexual abuse of young girls. When police raided his home, the man was
allegedly about to rape a 12-year-old girl sent to him in a law enforcement
sting operation. As the Times reported, a senior Congolese police officer
confirmed the bed was surrounded by large mirrors on three sides, with a remote
control camera on the fourth side.
U.N. officials are worried that the scandal, which already has netted 150
allegations of sex crimes by U.N. staffers, will explode if the pornographic
videos and photos, now on sale in Congo, becoming public
"It would be a pretty big problem for the U.N. if these pictures come out," one
senior official told the Times.
Two Russian pilots paid young girls with jars of mayonnaise and jam to have sex
with them, the report adds.
U.N. "peacekeepers" from Morocco based in Kisangani – a secluded town on the
Congo River – are notorious for impregnating local women and girls. In March,
an international group probing the scandal found 82 women and girls had been
made pregnant by Moroccan U.N. staffers and 59 others by Uruguayan staffers.
One U.N. soldier accused of rape was apparently hidden in the barracks for a
year.
Congo's Minister of Defense Maj.-Gen. Jean Pierre Ondekane told a top U.N.
official that all U.N. "peacekeepers" in Kisangani would be remember for would
be "for running after little girls," the Times reported.
And at least two U.N. officials – a Ukrainian and a Canadian – have been
forced to leave the African nation after getting local women pregnant.
Most of the sexual abuse and exploitation, says the report, involves trading
sex for money, food or jobs. However, some victims say they were raped, but
later given food or money to make the incident appear to have been consensual
– "rape disguised as prostitution."
U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno told the
London paper: "The fact that these things happened is a blot on us. It's awful.
What is important is to get to the bottom of it and fight it and make sure that
people who do that pay for what they have done."
Despite the fact that the U.N.'s sexual code of conduct is prominently
displayed on U.N. facilities Congo – forbidding sex with prostitutes or women
under 18 – the U.N. continues to hand out free condoms to "peacekeepers" to
protect them from AIDS.
The U.N. has promised to investigate and prosecute the widespread allegations.
But, as WND reported last month, the global organization is not known for its
forthrightness and candor in such internal investigations. The agency has been
criticized for ignoring evidence or wrongdoing in the past – including
accusations of rape and murder by "peacekeepers."
In fact, previous revelations of peacekeeping abuses have only been revealed by
news organizations. Such was the case in Cambodia in the early 1990s and later
in Somalia, Bosnia and Ethiopia.
"I am afraid there is clear evidence that acts of gross misconduct have taken
place," Secretary-General Kofi Annan admitted. "This is a shameful thing for
the United Nations to have to say, and I am absolutely outraged by it."
Annan said the allegations concerned a small number of U.N. personnel and
promised to hold those involved accountable.
"I have long made it clear that my attitude to sexual exploitation and abuse is
one of zero tolerance, without exception, and I am determined to implement this
policy in the most transparent manner," Annan said.
But Jordan’s Prince Zeid Raad Al Hussein, a special adviser to Annan and who
led one investigative team, said in a confidential report obtained by The
Times: "The situation appears to be one of 'zero-compliance with
zero-tolerance' throughout the mission."
The new charges of rape and pedophilia by U.N. troops and workers in Congo are
not the first scandal involving U.N. workers and troops in Africa.
Former United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali's tenure was
marked by scandalous charges that he played a leading role in supplying weapons
to the Hutu regime that carried out a campaign of genocide against the Tutsi
tribe in 1994.
As minister of foreign affairs in Egypt, Boutros-Ghali facilitated an arms deal
in 1990, which was to result in $26 million of mortar bombs, rocket launchers,
grenades and ammunition being flown from Cairo to Rwanda. The arms were used by
Hutus in attacks which led to up to a million deaths. The role of
Boutros-Ghali, who was in charge at the U.N. when it turned its back on the
killings in 1994, was revealed in a book by Linda Melvern. In "A People
Betrayed: The Role of the West in Rwanda's Genocide," Boutros-Ghali admits his
role in approving an initial $5.8 million arms deal in 1990, which led to Egypt
supplying arms to Rwanda until 1992. He says he approved it because it was his
job as foreign minister to sell weapons for Egypt.
Back in 1997, there were reports Belgian U.N. troops roasted a Somali boy. A
military court reportedly sentenced two paratroopers to a month in jail and a
fine of 200 pounds for the offense.
Another Belgian soldier reportedly forced a young Somali to eat pork, drink
salt water and then eat his own vomit. Another sergeant was accused of
murdering a Somali whom he was photographed urinating upon. Another child,
accused of stealing food from the paratroopers' base, died after being locked
in a storage container for 48 hours. Fifteen other members of the same regiment
were investigated in 1995 for "acts of sadism and torture" against Somali
civilians.
The pattern of abuse was not confined to Belgian troops. Belgium was actually
the third country in the peacekeeping group to charge troops with serious
crimes against Somali citizens -- including rape, torture and murder. In 1995,
a group of Canadian paratroopers were investigated for torturing a Somali to
death and killing three others.
Gruesome photos were published in a Milan magazine of Italian soldiers
torturing a Somali youth and abusing and raping a Somali girl. Paratroopers
claim they were specifically trained in methods of torture to aid
interrogation. According to one witness, Italian soldiers tied a young Somali
girl to the front of an armored personnel carrier and raped her while officers
looked on.
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