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Peacekeepers accused of role in child sex ring
U.N. soldiers lured Sierra Leone children with food: UNICEF
Allan Thompson
OTTAWA BUREAU
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OTTAWA — United Nations peacekeepers in Sierra Leone have been accused of operating a child sex ring that used boys as pimps to secure young girls as prostitutes, The Star has learned.

The disturbing allegations were brought to the attention of the U.N. hierarchy after an undercover investigation in the West African country by a local humanitarian relief group and the country office of UNICEF, the U.N.'s child protection agency.

Investigators from UNICEF, the aid group Caritas Makeni and other organizations uncovered evidence that peacekeepers from Bangladesh were using young boys to go into towns and sell military food rations, with instructions to come back with young prostitutes. The boys were then made to act as sentries while the soldiers had sex with the girls.

The head of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone is aware of the allegations and has launched an investigation, a spokesperson confirmed.

"These specific cases are being looked into and investigated," Margaret Novicki, the spokesperson for the U.N. force, said in a telephone interview from the capital, Freetown.

"We're still trying to ascertain the facts. But where any kind of incident of misconduct of a sexual nature is reported it is investigated."

The preliminary investigation was conducted last fall by local staff of UNICEF and aid workers with Caritas. Investigators interviewed children in the Lungi area, near Freetown and by early December had concluded there was enough evidence of wrongdoing to warrant a full investigation.

A spokesperson for UNICEF confirmed the agency's role in bringing the allegations to light.

"I'd rather not describe the allegations," UNICEF spokesperson Alfred Ironside said, from New York. He said UNICEF Sierra Leone and partner organizations "undertook some investigation in the field because we had heard some stories."

"We do have reason for concern but we have been given assurances an investigation is under way. We do consider (the allegations) a very serious matter."

UNICEF and its partners submitted a report of the preliminary investigation on Jan. 30 to the top U.N. official in the country, Ambassador Oluyemi Adeniji, the special representative in Sierra Leone for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. In addition, the Ghanaian general who commands the peacekeeping force, Lt.-Gen. Daniel Opande, was also told of the allegations in December.

These new allegations come in the wake of revelations that another U.N. agency, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has found evidence of widespread sexual violence and exploitation of refugee children in West Africa, allegedly perpetrated by relief workers with the U.N. and non-government groups.

After news of its investigations was leaked last month, UNHCR and Save the Children U.K. issued a sketchy summary of findings from a mission to Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone conducted in November and December. The full report, which is expected to name perpetrators and the agencies they worked for, has not yet been made public.

The U.N. is still grappling with the problem of dealing with abuse of children by its own peacekeepers. Diplomatic sources told The Star of previous cases of alleged sexual abuse of children by peacekeepers in Sierra Leone, where the soldiers were whisked out of the country before they could face prosecution. Sources also described peacekeepers with a contingent other than the Bangladeshis "beating a path," from their barracks into nearby villages, where they visited prostitutes, often children.