UN asks why France didn’t probe sex abuse claims earlier

This Feb. 28, 2014 file image shows French President Francois Hollande, second from left, and French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, left, inspecting weapons confiscated from ex-Seleka rebels and anti-Balaka militia by the French military during operation Sangaris, as they are displayed at a French military base in Bangui, Central African Republic. French prosecutors and military authorities are investigating accusations that French soldiers in Central African Republic sexually abused children they were sent to protect. AP

UNITED NATIONS — The US ambassador to the United Nations called Friday for an impartial investigation into the way that child sexual abuse allegations against French soldiers in the Central African Republic have been handled. Meanwhile, the U.N. human rights chief asked why France didn’t move more quickly to pursue the claims.

The UN high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, made his first public comments on the case since it was first reported late last month. His office has come under criticism for suspending the staffer who leaked the abuse claims to French authorities. A UN tribunal overturned the suspension this week.

Questions remain about why it took several months for UN and French investigations to come to light and where the accused French soldiers are now.

On Thursday, the Paris prosecutor’s office said the “UN hierarchy” had rejected French efforts to hear from the author of a report containing the allegations. On Friday, the spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, Stephane Dujarric, described a back-and-forth with French judicial authorities over the issue that lasted from mid-October to March 30, when the UN handed over a redacted copy of the report.

US Ambassador Samantha Power told reporters that the sexual abuse allegations are “very credible and very disturbing” and said that “when allegations like these are made, speed is essential.”

The French soldiers were in Central African Republic responding to deadly violence between Christians and Muslims. Residents of a camp for displaced persons in the country’s capital, Bangui, have told The Associated Press that French soldiers tasked with protecting civilians had sexually abused boys as young as 9 years old.

Zeid, speaking Friday in Geneva, said the alleged abuses date from December 2013 until June, when he said the UN’s report “basically was concluded.” He asked why the French military was not investigating during that time, indicating that in such cases, word gets out among the troops: “Others will know.”

UN officials have pointed out that the allegations were made well before the UN peacekeeping mission took over from an African Union force in September, but the French forces had a mandate from the UN Security Council in December 2013 to assist the AU force.

Zeid noted the UN mandate but indicated that in such cases where the forces are not UN peacekeepers, “it is the country that is sending its troops that has that obligation” to follow up on allegations of misconduct.