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UN misconduct 'ignored'
06/05/2008 07:26 - (SA)
United Nations - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed hope on Monday that the UN's internal watchdog would look at new allegations that its investigators "ignored, minimised or shelved" numerous charges of gold smuggling and arms trading by UN peacekeepers in Congo.
Human Rights Watch released internal UN documents last week which it said show serious allegations of wrongdoing by Pakistani and Indian peacekeepers in Congo.
The rights group accused the UN's watchdog, the Office of Internal Oversight Services known as OIOS, of ignoring or seriously downplaying the extent of the problems. It asked the Secretary-General to look into OIOS' failings.
Ban disagreed that there is a problem with the UN's watchdog, noting that OIOS is an independent body created by the General Assembly. Its head, Inga-Britt Ahlenius, is "independent even from me, so she has full powers to investigate any questions", he said.
Allegations of illegal arms and gold trading by peacekeepers in the war-ravaged central African country were first raised by the British Broadcasting Corp more than a year ago. Last month, the BBC returned to the region to follow up and reported new allegations and accused OIOS of serious failures.
Asked on Monday what he intends to do about Human Rights Watch's documents and call to address OIOS' failings, Ban stressed that the UN Peacekeeping Department had provided "all the necessary evidence to the previous investigation and the investigation report has been already released".
"But since there have been such new allegations, I hope that the OIOS will look at this issue carefully," the Secretary-General told reporters.
The initial UN investigation found no evidence of arms transfers. It did establish that some Pakistani peacekeepers had provided support and security to foreign businessmen involved in gold smuggling, and that some Indian military personnel bought counterfeit gold.
The internal documents released by Human Rights Watch cite witness accounts of UN peacekeepers rearming militias and refer to a large network of Pakistani peacekeepers involved in gold trading.
The 18 000-member force in Congo is the UN's largest peacekeeping operation.
While hard-hit by sexual abuse and corruption scandals, it is credited with helping to organise and police Congo's first free elections in decades in 2006.
The force has also lost scores of men in clashes with militias.
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