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HRW reveals more abuses by UN troops in CAR

The file photo shows a United Nations peacekeeper in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic. (AFP)

Human Rights Watch said Thursday that at least eight women and girls were raped or sexually abused by UN peacekeeping troops in the Central African Republic (CAR) in the last three months of 2015.

The HRW report is the latest in a series of similar revelations about the controversial UN mission in the country, known as the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).

More than three years of violence have left thousands of dead and many more displaced in the African country. 

The HRW said that a 14-year-old and an 18-year-old were gang-raped by peacekeepers near the airport in Bambari, the country's second-largest city.

MINUSCA said in cases brought to its attention by the HRW, seven new possible victims of sexual abuse have been identified, including five minors. A statement said the cases date from September to December last year.

MINUSCA said the troops incriminated in the cases were from Congo and the Republic of Congo, adding that 120 Republic of Congo soldiers in Bambari will be repatriated.

The mission said the “repatriation will occur after an investigation is carried out; in the meantime the soldiers will be confined to barracks.”

The Central African Republic, a former French colony, descended into violence in early 2013, when fighting and reprisal attacks broke out between two major Muslim and Christian groups, namely the Seleka and the anti-balaka.


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