UN Congo Peacekeepers Detained in Uganda, Capital

By Reuters
April 11, 2005
The New York Times
Original Source: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-uganda-peacekeepers.html?ex=1113883200&en=8bc460a58ea0de69&ei=5070

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Two U.N. peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo were briefly detained in northern Uganda after angering locals by having sex with a prostitute, a police spokesman said on Monday.
He said the behavior of the men -- Nepalese troops serving in neighboring Congo with the peace force, known by its French acronym MONUC -- enraged residents of Arua town, in northwest Uganda near the Congolese border.
The U.N. mission in Congo confirmed its troops were briefly held and said it was also investigating another case involving two U.N. staff in the capital, Kinshasa, who were arrested after 13 women were found in their flat. The men were later released. Accusations of sexual exploitation of poverty-stricken women and girls, many of whom survive by selling sex to U.N. soldiers, have plagued the mission and forced the United Nations to draw up strict rules over peacekeepers having sex with locals.
``There have been consistent complaints against those troops because whenever they came to Arua they would take one girl, put her in a room and have sex with her one by one, while they also took photographs,'' said top Ugandan police spokesman Assuman Mugenyi.
The spokesman said a crowd formed outside a hotel in Arua on Sunday afternoon after residents saw two of the Nepalese troops enter a room with a 19-year-old prostitute. The crowd locked the soldiers in the room and threatened to beat them until police officers arrived to arrest the peacekeepers and the woman.
``There were also five other Nepalese outside. What is not clear is whether they were waiting for their turn with the girl, or whether they were just having a sip of beer,'' Mugenyi said, adding the troops were released after the United Nations intervened. 

ARRESTED
With more than 16,000 soldiers serving in the Congo, MONUC is the world body's largest peacekeeping force. The mission now has a policy of ``non-fraternization,'' which forbids sex with locals.
``What saved those Nepalese in fact is that the girl was over the age of 18 and had consented. If not, they would still be behind bars and would be prosecuted according to our laws,'' Mugenyi said.
The U.N. mission confirmed on Monday that some of its peacekeepers, who were buying fuel in Uganda, were temporarily arrested after they were accused of negotiating for prostitutes.
``MONUC's military command has decided to open an immediate inquiry and has recalled the personnel concerned and their superiors to their brigade headquarters in Bunia, where their case will be heard,'' the mission said in a statement.
In a separate incident on Friday, two civilian MONUC staff were arrested after 13 women were discovered in their apartment in Kinshasa, the police and the United Nations said.
``There were two (U.N.) staff arrested on Friday due to problems with women but they were released later on the same day,'' said a senior police officer in Kinshasa.
The United Nations has suspended the civilian staff members involved until an inquiry can be completed to determine whether they violated the U.N. code of conduct, the U.N. statement said.