ARMY SILENT ON SEX SCANDAL
By Kate Holt and Sarah Hughes

July 12, 2004 – (The Star – South Africa) South African soldiers have been accused of involvement in a massive sex abuse scandal in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where they are on peace-keeping duties.The allegations include a staggering 50 cases of sex attacks on minors over the past year, carried out by Monuc, the United Nations mission to the DRC, in Bunia in the north-east.

Among the claims are:

* that young girls have been raped by mainly South African and Indian soldiers, who lured them with sweets;
* that soldiers are running child prostitution and pornography rings;
* that a South African colonel was sent home after being found guilty of molesting his young male interpreter. He had requested under-18 males to act as his interpreters since the start of the mission.

These scandalous acts have allegedly been going on for months without anything being done. Now the UN has sent a special team to the DRC to investigate the allegations.

SA Foreign Affairs department spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa last night refused to comment, and referred all queries to the defence ministry. But neither the ministry nor the SA National Defence Force would answer The Star's questions.

The scandal has been exposed by The Star's sister newspaper in London, The Independent.

On June 8, a cablegram was sent from the Monuc office in Kinshasa to UN headquarters in New York. The message, a copy of which has been obtained by The Independent, details sexual abuses against minors allegedly carried out by Monuc troops in Bunia.

A week later, a second cablegram was sent, recording four more allegations and adding that special attention should be paid to the behaviour of South African Monuc troops in Kindu, Moroccan Monuc troops in Kinsangani and Monuc troops from Uruguay, Pakistan and Nepal.

On June 14, a UN team from the Office of Internal and Oversight Services arrived in Bunia to investigate allegations of sexual abuse of children. Their probe is "ongoing".

So far this year, 68 complaints against Monuc soldiers have been recorded. One of them comes from a 12-year-old girl, identified only as Anna.
"I came to Goma with my family from Massissi over two years ago when the war got very bad. My father and my two brothers were killed on the way. We had to escape the war and came here to be safe."

Although Anna's family had little, they gradually adjusted to their new life, living in a makeshift house of plastic sheets.

"Then a few weeks ago, I was walking past a UN vehicle and there were South African soldiers standing around with guns.

They asked me if I wanted a biscuit and so I went up to where they were holding a packet out for me. As I came close, one of them grabbed me and took me inside the vehicle and shut the door. Then he ripped off my dress and made me do it with him.

"I was scared and tried to get away but he wouldn't let me. He told me that if I said anything he would find me and hurt me. He let me go. I ran away but I'm really scared now that maybe he'll come and find me."

The UN insists that it has responded to these allegations. But, paralysed by bureaucracy, the OIOS investigation has yet to bring charges against any of those accused.

Documents obtained by The Independent show that in August 2003 the Monuc child protection office in Kindu sent a memo to Monuc headquarters in Kinshasa detailing their fears about the allegations of sexual exploitation by Monuc forces. No action was taken.

At the beginning of this year, the gender adviser to Monuc in Kinshasa contacted UN headquarters in New York requesting that the Moroccan troops in Kinsangani not be sent to Bunia because of allegations of sexual abuse that included reports of child pornography, organised sex shows and the rape of babies.

An investigation was launched by Monuc in Kinshasa in 2003, but was dropped because of a lack of evidence and support for the investigation from the military contingent commanders.

The situation is further complicated by the fact that most Monuc soldiers are only on six-month postings and thus unlikely to ever face a military investigation.

This is also the case of the SA colonel in Goma, accused of molesting his interpreter. There is no evidence that he was investigated or prosecuted on his return.The questions the SANDF wouldn't answer

South African National Defence Force spokespeople this morning refused to answer these questions from The Star or comment on allegations about the sex scandal:

* The first report was sent by the United Nation's Monuc office in Kinshasa to the UN headquarters in New York on June 8. This detailed sexual abuses against minors carried out by Monuc troops in Bunia, a town in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, over the past year.

Are you saying the SANDF has not yet seen this report six weeks later? Was it not aware of this report until yesterday?

* A week later a second cable was sent, recording a further four allegations and adding that special attention must be paid to the behaviour of South African Monuc troops in Kindu, Moroccan Monuc troops in Kinsangani and Monuc troops from Uruguay, Pakistan and Nepal.

Are you saying the SANDF has not yet seen this report either? Was it not aware of this report until yesterday?

* Is it true that a colonel was sent home because he was alleged to have sexually molested a young interpreter. If so, what has happened to him?

* What is the SANDF doing about investigating the allegations?

Colonel John Rolt said he had not seen the report and was not able to comment in any way on its contents. He referred The Star to the office of the Defence Minister for a response.

Sam Mkhwanazi, spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence, said he could not comment on the report until a copy had been made available to South Africa.

"It would be very dangerous for us to comment on something we have not yet seen. We don't have the actual report and we don't know the source of the story," he said.

'He ripped off my dress and made me do it'

One of the alleged victims of Monuc troop abuse is a 12-year-old girl, identified only as Anna.

"I came to Goma with my family from Massissi over two years ago when the war got very bad. My father and my two brothers were killed on the way. We had to escape the war and came here to be safe."

Although Anna's family had little, they gradually adjusted to their new life, living in a makeshift house of plastic sheets.

"Then a few weeks ago I was walking past a UN vehicle and there were South African soldiers standing around with guns.

They asked me if I wanted a biscuit and so I went up to where they were holding a packet out for me. As I came close one of them grabbed me and took me inside the vehicle and shut the door. Then he ripped off my dress and made me do it with him.

"I was scared and tried to get away but he wouldn't let me.

He told me that if I said anything he would find me and hurt me. He let me go. I ran away but I'm really scared now that maybe he'll come and find me."


From: http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=129&fArticleId=2146949