Accusations of rape in CAR: return nine months of investigation – The World

The key

• At least 14 French soldiers in the Central African Republic are suspected of sexually abusing children between December 2013 and May -June 2014.

• Among the military, “very few” have been identified, a judicial source said, without disclosing the precise figure.

• An investigation was opened in France in July 2014. Francois Hollande promised to be “relentless.” The army says she does not want to “hide anything.”

French troops of the mission “Sangaris” in December 2014 Central African Republic Credits.: AFP / –

Soldiers deployed in the Central African Republic (CAR) as part of the “Sangaris” operation are suspected of sexually abusing children in their mission in Bangui. Information revealed, Wednesday, April 29, by the British newspaper The Guardian , which has had access to an internal report of the United Nations (UN).

• What are the allegations?

The alleged offenses allegedly occurred between December 2013 and May-June 2014, during the first months of operation “Sangaris “. According to information from the World , four boys, ages 9 to 13 years, told an employee of the UN have been victims of rape by French soldiers. Two other children claimed to have witnessed this sexual abuse.

According to The Guardian , the soldiers are alleged to have abused these boys “hungry and without shelter “ in exchange ” of food or money “.

According to information from World ” document work “ UN has leaked evokes ” fellatio “. Children are the sexual abuse in a “shelter” near the access barrier to Bangui airport, guarded by French soldiers. A small shelter made of sandbags are very near the barrier, which adjoins the center moved to where the children live.

• How many French soldiers are involved?

The charges give no name. According duplication of investigators, fourteen French soldiers suspected of involvement. Among these soldiers, “very little” have been identified, a judicial source said, without disclosing the precise figure.

According to a source close to the case, the charges are also designed five foreign military. These three Chadian soldiers and two Equatorial Guineans, said the co-director of the American NGO Aids-Free World, Paula Donovan, who consulted the UN report and informed the Guardian . One of the two witnesses said children attending a sodomy by one of those foreign soldiers. These facts are not covered by the French survey

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• How was the survey

According to a judicial source, the department received this information 29 July 2014 in the form of a UN working document, which he immediately forwarded to the French justice. The Paris prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation on July 31 for “rapes of children under 15″ on the basis of Article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, after “information” the Ministry of Defense

The research section (SR) SR of Paris and the provost of the gendarmerie. – training whose main task is to investigate with the French armed forces stationed outside French territory – were entered

The gendarmes of the provost was sent in August 2014 as IDP camp to conduct audits, but were unable to interview children, legal framework fault.. If he does not call into question the statements “very precise” on children mentioned sexual acts, rendering gendarmes account raises some questions to clarify the precise course of events, especially in view of the topography of the alleged scene of the crime, says a source close to the case.

In September, the Paris prosecutor sent a request for assistance to the UN to obtain the lifting of the immunity of ‘UN employee who had collected the testimony of children, a necessary condition for the same audition as a simple witness. Refused a request by the UN, which has instead agreed to forward a written questionnaire. The answers to this questionnaire are not received by the Paris prosecutor that seven months later, on April 29, the day of the revelation of the scandal, which has considerably slowed down the investigation, explains a source close to the case.

Anders Kompass, Director of Field Operations at the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in 2006. Credits: AFP / ORLANDO SIERRA

The UN has yet confirmed having investigated in the spring of 2014 “Operating serious charges and sexual abuse of children by French soldiers “Central African Republic. The deputy spokesman of the UN, Farhan Haq, also confirmed that Anders Kompass, a senior UN official, who passed in 2014 the results of that investigation to the French authorities in violation of the procedures had been suspended. “ Our preliminary conclusion is that such conduct can not be regarded as that of a whistleblower” , said the spokesman.

Mr. Kompass transmitted the report to the French authorities after finding that the UN was slow to act, says Guardian . A version contradicted by a UN source, who said, on condition of anonymity to Agence France-Presse that the manager had fuiter the report just a week after it was provided by the investigators, and that his Action could not therefore be explained by frustration at a lack of responsiveness from the UN.

The Paris prosecutor has also asked Wednesday, April 29 declassification of a command investigation conducted internally . All of which could soon lead to the opening of a judicial investigation

Read also:. Why Anders Kompass he found the report on sexual abuse soldiers French?