Sex scandal: SA waiting for UN
2004-12-19 13:57
Johannesburg - The defence department has not been officially informed of allegations of sexual misconduct of their troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a spokesperson said on Sunday.
Said Sam Mkhwanazi: "The troops in the Congo are under United Nations command. If there is wrongdoing by troops from a particular country, the UN would bring it to the attention of the country concerned."
He said South Africa had not yet been shown the UN report - completed in June and leaked to the media last week - which documents 68 cases of rape, prostitution and paedophilia by peacekeepers from several countries including South Africa.
Mkhwanazi said the only case the department was involved with in at the moment was a case against Lieutenant-Colonel Koos van Breda who is charged with sexually assaulting his Congolese interpreter while in the DRC last year.
Van Breda has appeared before a South African military tribunal in the Congo, and his case will continue to be heard in Pretoria.
"In that case allegations were made, the UN investigated, then submitted a report to us. We acted based on what they submitted to us," Mkhwanazi said.
He said he suspected Sunday's media reports were a repeat of allegations that surfaced earlier this year: "There is nothing new".
Until approached by the UN, the department would not act on the allegations, Mkhwanazi said, although it had unsuccessfully approached the media to get hold of a copy of the report.
Damaged UN's reputation
The report was leaked to the Washington Post on Thursday. Apparently it is an internal draft report on an investigation that has been continuing since the allegations first surfaced in 2003.
The 34-page document, as well as reporting on specific cases of abuse, accuses UN peacekeepers from Morocco, Pakistan and Nepal of threatening investigators, and trying to bribe witnesses to change incriminating testimony.
Most cases of sexual misconduct involved soliciting prostitutes, but the report cites three cases of alleged rape by Nepalese peacekeepers, including the alleged abduction and rape of a 10-year-old girl.
The scandal has seriously damaged the reputation of the UN, which has been in the country for the last five years, overseeing the withdrawal of foreign armies, and helping to prepare for national elections.
It is the organisation's largest peacekeeping mission, employing more than 1 000 civilians and nearly 11 000 peacekeepers from 50 nations.
DA
The Democratic Alliance's defence spokesperson, Rafeek Shah, said the reports of sexual misconduct were horrific.
"If true, we will have become part of the problem rather than the solution."
"The government is spending millions of taxpayers' rands to help bring peace.
"All this good work will be undone and all this money wasted if these allegations are true and if the situation is not put right immediately."
- SAPA