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WORLD NEWS Friday 22 September 2017
UN Peacekeepers: Congo leads world in sex abuse allegations

scale of the scandal first third of the 43 allegations
emerged 13 years ago - made worldwide so far in
and where the promised 2017.
reforms have most clearly Peter Gallo, a former in-
fallen short. Of the 2,000 vestigator at the U.N.’s Of-
sexual abuse and exploi- fice of Internal Oversight,
tation complaints made blames a bureaucratic,
against the U.N. worldwide inefficient agency for the
over the past 12 years, enduring crisis.
more than 700 occurred in “The U.N. system is essen-
Congo. The embattled Afri- tially protecting the perpe-
can nation hosts the U.N.’s trators of these crimes, and
largest peacekeeping what is happening is that
force, costing a staggering the U.N. is exploiting and
$1 billion a year. The mis- is complicit in the exploita-
sion is so problematic, the tion of the very people that
U.S. ambassador the U.N., the organization was set up
Nikki Haley, has threatened to protect.”The need for re-
to cut off funds for it and form is evident in the case
others like it. of a 14-year-old orphan girl
With rare exception, the who says she was raped by
victims interviewed by a Pakistani peacekeeper
the AP in Congo got no on the same day a high-
In this photo taken Aug. 10, 2016, a man stands at the entrance of a bar in the Congo Ituri province help. Instead, many are level U.N. delegation was
capital Bunia. Bars and night-clubs are off limits to U.N peacekeepers. By virtue of being the larg-
est U.N. peacekeeping mission, Congo is also home to the highest number of sexual abuse and banished from their fami- paying a visit to Bunia in
exploitation allegations in the world. lies for having mixed-race 2004.It was an attack so
(AP Photo/Jerome Delay) children - who also are brazen it still haunts the
shunned, becoming a sec- U.N.’s top human rights of-
By KRISTA LARSON The rape left her pregnant, for more than a decade, ond generation of victims. ficial more than a decade
PAISLEY DODDS and she gave birth to a son. the U.N. failed to meet Of the 2,000 allegations, after hearing the girl’s story.
ASSOCIATED PRESS She was 13 when the sec- many of its pledges to stop about a quarter involved “What on earth would it
BUNIA, Congo (AP) — The ond peacekeeper raped the abuse or help victims, children. Some years, in take for this soldier not to
girl was only 11 when the her. She once again got some of whom have been fact, offenses involving chil- do it - to have all the heads
first peacekeeper raped pregnant, and became lost to a sprawling bureau- dren accounted for nearly of the U.N. together, and
her, luring her with bread a mother twice over while cracy. Cases have disap- half of the allegations, in- he still does it?” asked Zeid
and a banana as she was she was still a child herself. peared, or have been cluding rape offenses. Ra’ad al Hussein, a mem-
leaving school in her village Bora’s case is grimly em- handed off to the peace- To this day, the violence ber of the delegation that
in northeastern Congo. blematic of the underbelly keepers’ home countries continues: Congo already heard the girl’s testimony in
“It was the first man who of U.N. peacekeeping, -- which often do nothing accounts for nearly one- 2004. q
ever touched me,” said and the organization as a with them.
Bora, who asked that only whole: In a yearlong inves- If the U.N. sexual abuse
her first name be used be- tigation, the AP found that crisis has an epicenter, it is
cause she is a rape victim. despite promises of reform Congo, where the overall
Kenya sets Oct.26 as date for new polls

By TOM ODULA commission chairman Wa- the judiciary if he is re-
Associated Press fula Chebukati said. elected next month. Ke-
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Supreme Court said nya’s chief justice has said
The rerun of Kenya’s presi- the electoral commission attempts to intimidate the
dential elections has been failed to properly verify the Supreme Court judges fol-
pushed back to Oct. 26, as results. It also said the elec- lowing the annulment of
President Uhuru Kenyatta toral commission failed to the August election have
strongly criticized the court give the court access to been “unlawful and sav-
decision to nullify his re- its computer servers to dis- age in nature.”
election calling it “a judi- prove the charge by vet- The Supreme Court’s major-
cial coup.” eran opposition politician ity judgment said that the
Earlier this month the Su- Raila Odinga’s that hackers irregularities and illegalities
preme Court invalidated infiltrated the commission’s in the presidential election
Kenyatta’s August re-elec- system and altered the re- of Aug 8, 2017 “were sub-
tion and ordered a rerun sults.Tensions between the stantial and significant that
within 60 days. The elector- judiciary and the president they affected the integrity
al commission at first stated continued Thursday when of the election.”
the fresh elections would Kenyatta harshly attacked Kenya’s top court said
be held on Oct. 17. the court’s nullification of Wednesday that it was
Thursday the commission his re-election as a blow to “unable to find specific fin-
set back the date by nine the democratic ideals Ke- ger prints of individuals who
days because the Supreme nyans fought for. may have played a role in
Court’s detailed ruling this Kenyatta had earlier this commission of illegalities.”
week indicated how the month attacked the Su- Kenyatta said Thursday
new elections should be preme Court judges as that finding exonerated
conducted and the tech- “crooks” and warned of him and his regime from
nology should be used, unspecified action against any criminal liability. q