France??

BANGUI, Central African Republic – Residents of a squalid refugee camp said Thursday that French soldiers tasked with protecting civilians had sexually abused boys as young as 9 years old, luring the children with army rations and small change when their families had nothing to feed them.

The accounts given to The Associated Press by one of the boys' mother and another woman living in the camp came a day after French authorities acknowledged that investigations into the allegations had been underway for months. The children — who described to investigators last year how they were given bottles of water after being sodomized — are still living in the refugee camp, relatives said.

The French government has not explained why the probe was kept quiet, though France's president promised tough punishment for any soldier found guilty. The probe came to light Wednesday in a report in Britain's the Guardian newspaper after the alleged whistleblower at the United Nations was removed from his duties.

Details also emerged Thursday of similar accusations against soldiers from Chad and Equatorial Guinea.

"For the moment, we don't know if the facts have been proven," French military spokesman Col. Gilles Jaron said Thursday, stressing the importance of the French military operation in limiting the bloodshed in Central African Republic where thousands died amid fighting between Muslims and Christians.

France, the former colonizer of Central African Republic, sent several thousand additional troops to Bangui in late 2013 and in early 2014 amid sectarian violence that prompted tens of thousands to seek refuge on the grounds of the capital's airport.

The mother of one of the children told AP that her son was just 9 years old when he was assaulted by French soldiers. She spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to identify her son as a victim of sexual abuse.

Her family had fled to the airport the first day of the sectarian clashes in December 2013, and she and her son are still living there.

"The children were vulnerable because they were hungry and their parents had nothing to give them, so the children were forced to ask the soldiers for food," she recalled.

"They took advantage of the children forcing them to perform MouthAction and also sodomizing them," she said. "The moaning of children in the area often started around 10 p.m. or 11 p.m."

Another resident said other abused children ranged in age from 10 years old to 13.

"In exchange for cookies, the soldiers demanded MouthAction," she said, recounting what the children told her. "Afterward they were given bottles of water. They even sodomized the children."

Paula Donovan, whose group AIDS-Free World has been looking into abuse by peacekeeping personnel, said she had been given a copy of the U.N. internal report that detailed the accusations. She said that 16 soldiers were cited, including one or two who the children said had been on the lookout while the abuses happened.

Children also accused soldiers from Chad and Equatorial Guinea, Donovan said. "A child reported that he had watched from a hiding place as his friend was raped by two soldiers from Equatorial Guinea," she said in an email. "One soldier stood watch while the other demanded MouthAction and then sodomized the boy, and then the two soldiers switched roles."

She added, "At another point in the interviews, a boy reported seeing a child he knew being sodomized by two soldiers from Chad while a third Chadian soldier watched."

French military officials refused Thursday to say whether the soldiers have been identified or whether any were still serving in Central African Republic.

The U.N. later set up a 12,000-strong peacekeeping force in September, taking over from regional peacekeepers who hailed from neighboring countries. The U.N. says the investigation is now in the hands of French prosecutors. The chief prosecutor in Bangui's capital says a local inquiry is being launched as well.

French President Francois Hollande, speaking Thursday to reporters in western France, said if the allegations are proven true, the sanctions against the soldiers should be "very serious" and "set an example."

About 18,000 people are still living on the grounds of the airport nearly 1½ years after the violence erupted, in some cases seeking shelter under rusty decommissioned planes. At the height of the crisis, more than 100,000 internally displaced people were living there.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/05/01/french-soldiers-raped-african-children-refugee-camp-residents-say/

speaktome:
They wan take style enter Nija ooo

GMB keekwa Nkwocha
GMB shine ur eye!!!









#justMySignature#

ramdris:
This might not be unconnected to our highly corrupt military. Even though it makes little sense to exclude Nigeria from the assistance, am sure the US wanted to avoid a situation where the fund will be sit upon by our so called military heads who has been benefiting illegally without hindrance under GEJ reign.
However, anything that will flush BH out completely is welcome.

Dnarvaez:
When will this Boko-Haram plague be completely wiped out from this country and others?
I am sick and tired of these hide-and-seek games. The muslims - which are no doubt the Boko-Harams - should surrender in unison to the government to end all these ish of insurgents for once. Game`s over! The moment of truth has come!

Dnarvaez:
When will this Boko-Haram plague be completely wiped out from this country and others?
I am sick and tired of these hide-and-seek games. The muslims - which are no doubt the Boko-Harams - should surrender in unison to the government to end all these ish of insurgents for once. Game`s over! The moment of truth has come!

GodMode:


GMB has already said he is willing to work with the U.S...

GMB is just another puppet...

sleeknaija:

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/us-offers-france-35-million-to-fight-boko-haram/

sademola:


Muslims in indeed! Ideeotic overgenelisation syndrome

sleeknaija:

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/us-offers-france-35-million-to-fight-boko-haram/

sademola:


So, cooperation between governments now mean 'puppeteering'? Clap for urself

eleojo23:
I don't know why we expect the US to even give us money/aid.
We have enough money in this country but corruption and greed will not allow us to put it to good use.
No country would want to give aid to a nation that cannot manage their own resources well.

jamahali:
How did you sign up on nairaland..mumu

olas24u:
.

Tassembly:


US relationship with Nigeria under GEJ admin is the worst of all time due to heavy corruption in this administration which is obvious and US is aware of it.yes they do have informants. Not until we have a government that is ready to put the whole country on and not care about his own selfish interest and benefits attached to it. Things will continue to go wrong. Other small nations like qatar and dubai who are blessed with little oil have transformed overtime to heaven on earth.in our own case.nothing has changed. We are just renovating and managing the whitemen leftovers since over a decade. Greedy people taking over government affairs . A country blessed with oild and the masses can't even have enough of it not to even talk of benefiting from it. Qatar and dubai citizens does not work atall. Only foreigners do the hard work. Well i hope US believes in buhari's past and high integrity. I hope nothing as changed aswell due to the fact that he is also surrounded with politicians who have stolen from public fund. Lets keep our hope alive.

intergral:
There is lot of dirty and evil people to be exposed after May 29th... I believe Obama knows that the government has a hand in bokoharam that why they refuse to sell them weapon and offer Nigeria help... BOKOHARAM was only a fraud if not when have the Nigerian army anounced that they've caught one Nigerian among them? Although aimed at distroying and reducing the population of the north using religion as a cover up, they capture town and villages loot them including the banks and properties for their own personal use in chaD... I also believe that had it been the news of this chibok girls broke out mistakenly GEJ would have kept Silent about it just like bunch of other cases of women and girls Kidnap, But to GEJ's biggest surprise his plans didn't work it fail and fail and fail and continue to fail till he lost the election... My biggest wish is to see buhari invest in oil exploration in the North east because Chad have already started enjoying our Desert oil which is more expensive and valuable then he can now call everybody tell them that who so ever wants to leave should go and form their country but my believe is that once oil is confirmed in the North the SS and SW will stick to one Nigeria then the south east can now remove all their crime causing citizens back to their Biafra and do what they like without anybody giving a Bleep!!!

sademola:


So, cooperation between governments now mean 'puppeteering'? Clap for urself