New York – The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday that the 12-year-old girl, who had been allegedly raped, by a UN peacekeeper in the Central African Republic endured a most brutal ordeal.
Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director, said during a press conference in New York that his colleagues had met the girl and offered her every possible help.
He said the assistance, include medical, psychological assistance and legal advice.
Lake said the mission and the UN system came under fire last Tuesday, after human rights watchdog Amnesty International reported that a 12-year-old girl had been raped on Aug. 2 in Bangui, while UN troops from Rwanda and Cameroon were carrying out operations during armed clashes.
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The executive director added that rights organisation also said peacekeepers allegedly killed a 16-year-old boy and his father in the same area the following day when the troops began shooting at people indiscriminately.
Lake said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in an unprecedented move last Wednesday fired the UN mission’s Head, Babacar Gaye of Senegal.
He said the new allegation came on the heels of multiple other reports of sexual abuse by UN troops in the country.
Lake said currently, there were 11 investigations into possible sexual assaults by peacekeepers in CAR since the UN mission began in April 2014.
The UN mission to CAR said in Bangui that investigation into the alleged sexual assault was ongoing.
It, however, said the investigation was complicated by the large number of nationalities of police and military personnel involved in the operations when the assault allegedly took place. (dpa/NAN)