From Seattle writer and consultant Matt Rosenberg...: The Independent: U.N. Peacekeepers Sexually Exploiting Teen Girls in Congo

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The Independent: U.N. Peacekeepers Sexually Exploiting Teen Girls in Congo

May 28, 2004

Teen-age rape victims who've become mothers and vulnerable refugees in Congo's ongoing fighting are being sexually exploited by U.N. "peacekeepers."

At night girls from the Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP) camp in Bunia, Congo, slip under a fence to liase with the U.N. soldiers, mostly from developing nations.

In return, they get a banana or piece of cake to feed their infants, The Independent reports.

This despite the U.N.'s "zero tolerance" pledge on peacekeeper abuse of refugees and a U.N. investigation of same, in Congo.

Sounds like the reporter has pinpointed one place where the "investigators" should, um, investigate.

Meanwhile, more U.N. "peacekeepers" have arrived in Congo, from Uruguay, to help the wobbly Congolese army beat back ethnic Hutu hardliners who were expelled from Rwanda for their role in the genocide of 800,000 Tutsis. Got that?

More background on the mess in Congo, and the role of the diamond trade in financing terrorist organizations in this earlier Rosenblog post.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at May 28, 2004 10:01 AM

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Comments:

Doesn't this story deserve 28+ straight days of front page coverage by the New York Times?

Posted by: Jeff at May 28, 2004 12:32 PM

At least that.

Posted by: Matt Rosenberg at May 28, 2004 01:14 PM

You can bet, that if American troops were a large measure of the force that was there... the N.Y. Times would be parading the news every day.

It would be nice to turn blogs into billboards and show the uninformed how a U.N. mission without much American participation turns out. There is country that, attempting to save money, has offered criminals reduced/abolished sentences if they will go to the Congo as "peacekeepers" in the name of that country! Oh My! That's giving free reign to the wrong mentality.

Combat action is hard enough on the psyche (sp?) of a normal individual, giving way to behaviors that upset the normal. (i.e. prisoner "abuses" in Iraq) Imagine what a person with a ciminal or "predatory mindset" already, will be capable of in a few months "in country."

Posted by: RROSS at May 30, 2004 06:12 AM

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