NOT ALL ALLEGATIONS ABOUT PEACEKEEPERS CAN BE PROVED: BARIL: 22 OF 60 DISCIPLINED OVER ROLE IN BOSNIA
By Luann Lasalle

June 9, 1998 - (Canadian Press article in The Hamilton Spectator) The country's top soldier said yesterday that incidents involving Canadian peacekeepers in the former Yugoslavia weren't as serious as he first believed.

General Maurice Baril said, however, that not all allegations could be proven. He said some peacekeepers did have consensual sex with civilian women and did abuse alcohol while helping out at a mental hospital in Bakovici in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1993-94.

Twenty-two of 60 peacekeepers have been disciplined, including an officer and a deputy commanding officer who were kicked out of the army, he said at a news conference.

"But certain evidence wasn't strong enough, certain evidence was false, certain evidence was badly documented," Baril said.

The investigation cleared the 38 other soldiers of any wrongdoing, including Lieutenant-Colonel David Moore, who commanded the unit involved, the 12th
Armored Regiment.

Most of the punishments related to misuse of alcohol.

Baril said allegations that Canadian peacekeepers didn't want to come to the aid of a wounded Serbian soldier were unfounded.

COUNSELLING

Other disciplinary actions included counselling and probation for six peacekeepers, including a soldier who said he wanted to kill one or more mental patients with a machine gun, written warnings for seven peacekeepers and verbal warnings for seven others.

Baril came to CFB Valcartier, just north of Quebec City, hoping to close the chapter on the incidents after four years of investigation by military police, a formal review by a retired Mountie and a series of hearings by career review boards.

Baril noted that most troops did their jobs well in Bakovici and are the same soldiers who "came to help Canadians during the recent floodings and ice storm."

But he said the allegations came during the Somalia inquiry, which examined the involvement of Canadian soldiers in the torture and death of a Somalia teenager, and had to be fully investigated. Private Kyle Brown was found guilty of manslaughter in the 1993 death of Shidane Arone and sentenced to five years in prison.

"Unless we accept that we have a problem, how can we treat it?" Baril asked.

Baril acknowledged the investigation process was long and difficult, especially for the families. Some of them had experienced divorce and suicide threats and he said they'll get the help they need.

But he said he couldn't apologize for doing his job. "I'm not here to give apologies. I'm here to say what happened."

Raymond Belanger, a spokesman for peacekeepers who faced the allegations, said the 38 who were cleared have had their reputations stained.

"Most of the guys who have been under inquiry have been exonerated of all the accusations against them but they are marked," he said. "They will live that all of their military lives. So we think that the army should apologize and give compensation to these guys."