The court also ordered that Didier Bourguet, 44, undergo psychiatric treatment.

Bourget was accused of raping some 20 girls aged between 12 and 18 while posted in the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo between 1998 and 2004.

The Frenchman, who was responsible for the maintenance of United Nations peacekeeping vehicles, admitted during the trial to having paid sex with the girls, but insisted they had consented.

DR Congo police arrested Bourguet in the eastern city of Goma in October 2004 and turned him over to France. French state prosecutor Pierre Kramer rejected his defense and said Bourguet showed “an absence of compassion for his victims” living in harsh economic conditions.

Kramer argued that the girls were “under duress given their age and the economic context” of their countries.

The prosecution had asked the Paris court to sentence him to 12 years.

Prosecutors told the court that Bourguet sought out girls through go-betweens during his postings in the Central African Republic from 1998 to 2001 and in DR Congo from 2001 to 2004.

One of the victims, a Congolese girl now aged 16 and living in Canada, told the court she had been abused after being served a cup of tea that had made her dizzy.

A police officer testified that Bourguet had engaged in sexual acts with about 24 girls, paying between 10 and 20 dollars (seven to 14 euros) each time.

Lawyer Emmanuel Daoud representing one of the victims said that between 15,000 and 20,000 rapes were committed each year in the DR Congo by soldiers, rebels and, sometimes, UN personnel, he said.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5glcjuSJrjkztDUv98puErRSXJ1DA

Didier Bourguet, a mechanic who worked for the United Nations from 1994, faces a prison sentence of up to 20 years if he is found guilty of a series of sexual offense and pornography charges ranging from rape to corruption of minors.

At the beginning of the hearing in Paris, at which one of his alleged victims was present, Bourguet acknowledged that he had had sex with the girls but he said they had consented.

“I admit the sexual relations and the pornography, but I deny rape,” he told the court.

A judgment is expected on Thursday.

His lawyer told reporters that Bourguet, who worked in the Central African Republic between 1998-2001 and the Democratic Republic of Congo between 2001-04, would argue that he had no way of knowing the girls were under aged.

A police investigation uncovered pedophile pornography and a series of images and videos stored on Bourguet’s personal computer showing him with very young girls, the court heard.

He told police he had met the girls through paid intermediaries and gave them between $10-20.

The United Nations’ own internal inspection services said in a 2004 report that they were looking at 72 cases of suspected rape and sexual offenses committed by civilian employees and military personnel during the U.N. mission to Congo.

http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN957748.html

The UN investigated some of the claims in 2007, but said it could not substantiate claims of arms dealing, but UN insiders told the BBC’s Panorama they had been prevented from pursuing their inquiries for political reasons.

An 18-month BBC investigation for Panorama has found evidence that:

- Pakistani peacekeepers in the eastern town of Mongbwalu were involved in the illegal trade in gold with the FNI militia, providing them with weapons to guard the perimeter of the mines.

- Indian peacekeepers operating around the town of Goma had direct dealings with the militia responsible for the Rwandan genocide, now living in eastern DR Congo.

- The Indians traded gold, bought drugs from the militias and flew a UN helicopter into the Virunga National Park, where they exchanged ammunition for ivory.

The UN looked into the allegations concerning the Pakistani troops in 2007.

It concluded that one officer had been responsible for dealing in gold – allowing traders to use UN aircraft to fly into the town, putting them up at the UN base and taking them around the town.

The head of the UN peacekeeping operation in New York Jean-Marie Guehenno declared, “The investigation has found no evidence of gun smuggling. the UN decided that “in the absence of corroborative evidence” its investigators “could not substantiate the allegation” that Pakistani peacekeepers supplied weapons or ammunition to the militia.

UN insiders - close to the investigation – told the BBC they had been prevented from pursuing their inquiries for political reasons. The BBC’s Martin Plaut says that in short, the Pakistanis, who are the largest troop contributors to the UN in the world, were too valuable to alienate.

These are not the only allegations to have been brought against peacekeepers in DR Congo.
In December 2006, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said Moroccan troops had been involved in widespread sexual abuse. “There have been crimes such as rape, pedophilia and human trafficking,” he said, shortly before leaving office.

Didier Bourguet, the U.N. senior official who was charged with running an Internet pedophile ring in the Congo, continues to escape imprisonment by hiding behind the French “justice” system

Several witnesses including two jailed FNI leaders known as “Kung-fu” and “Dragon”, have stated publicly that they received help from the UN. The FNI has been described by Human Rights Watch as “some of the most murderous individuals that operate in eastern Congo”.

The UN peacekeeping operation in DR Congo is the largest in the world, with 17,000 troops, spread across the country.

BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7365283.stm

The demonstrators outside the presidential palace said the rising cost of living in Haiti meant they were struggling to feed themselves. “We are hungry,” they shouted before attempting to smash open the palace gates with metal bins.

Overwhelmed guards struggled to hold back the crowd until U.N. peacekeepers arrived. UN troops fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowd. Several people are reported to have been injured in the clashes.

Les Cayes
Thousands took to the streets and went on the rampage in the town of Les Cayes, last week, blocking roads, looting shops and shooting at UN peacekeepers. The UN said its personnel had opened fire at some of the armed protesters.

A small group of protesters broke into the Les Cayes UN compound and damaged its gate. Some also fired shots at peacekeepers deployed in the town in an attempt to maintain public order. The UN troops fired back in response. The ensuing unrest left three dead in Les Cayes, including one young man who demonstrators said was fatally shot in the head by the UN peacekeepers.

The UN said it was investigating the death. At least five people have been killed in Haiti since the unrest began

Government
The protesters demanded the resignation of President Rene Preval, who came to power two years ago promising to restore peace to a country torn apart by fighting between rival armed gangs. Mr Preval is believed to have been inside the palace at the time.
Violence in Haiti has often been linked to poverty with more than half the population surviving on less than a dollar a day. New customs procedures aimed at collecting revenues and stopping the flow of drugs has left tons of food rotting in ports In a country where almost all food is imported, cargo traffic from Miami has ground nearly to a halt.
Critics say both Mr Preval and the international community have focused too much on political stability and not enough on helping to alleviate poverty and now growing hunger. Government officials say the riots are being manipulated by outside forces, more specifically drug smugglers.

United Nations

The protesters are also focusing their anger on the 9,000 or so UN peacekeepers sent to Haiti in 2004 under Resolution 1542 which established the ‘UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)”

. Their mission was to quell the chaos that followed the ousting of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the country’s first democratically elected leader.
Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the Americas. Around 80% of the population lives on less than $2 a day.

The BBC uncovered allegations of the sexual abuse of children by UN peacekeepers in Haiti.

30 Nov 2006

I have a reason for referencing this letter. Many of the crimes of the UN have been “covered up”. Despite this, we are using the UN own reports to ensure the accuracy of our data base. In their 2004 study of the Congo A/59/661 the UN substantiated seven cases of abuse with young girls, out of seventy two.

So in response to this report, when we enter seven case files into our system, we’re not hyping the problem. On the contrary. We may be severely under estimating the severity of these crimes. Read on…

Letter to Chief of UN Peacekeeping Urges Follow-Through

July 23, 2007

Mr. Jean-Marie Guéhenno
Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations
Department of Peacekeeping Operations
United Nations
New York, NY

Dear Mr. Guéhenno,

We welcome your recent announcement about the conclusion of the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) investigation into alleged gold smuggling and arms trading by Pakistani peacekeepers working with the UN peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). We believe that such investigations are a useful part of the process of establishing accountability for peacekeepers alleged to have been involved in illegal acts.

We are, however, disappointed by the apparent narrowness of the report’s conclusions, the lack of transparency in the process, the slow progress of the investigation, and most important, the continuing lack of accountability. You told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on July 13 that this matter is “now closed.” Yet no individual has yet been held accountable despite findings by OIOS, the investigative arm of the United Nations, that illegal behavior by at least one Pakistani officer had occurred. Surely a report confirming illegal acts by UN peacekeepers is not the end of a process, but the beginning.

We hope that the UN will also raise with the DRC authorities the issue of possible involvement in this illegal behavior by Congolese army officers.

Since the report from OIOS is still unpublished, our concerns are based on press announcements made by you and other UN spokespersons on its content. Based on those statements, we fear that the conclusions reached by the OIOS investigation may not have taken into account all available information. We would welcome the full publication of the OIOS report to be able to better evaluate its conclusions. On two issues, we have particular concerns:

1. The limited number of peacekeepers reported to be involved in illegal acts. When Human Rights Watch first brought information about gold-smuggling by peacekeepers to the attention of the United Nations in December 2005, our findings indicated that a ring of Congolese army officers, Kenyan traders, and Pakistani peacekeepers was involved in smuggling millions of dollars of gold from Ituri. A separate BBC investigation reached a similar conclusion. According to our research, this ring carried out at least two major trades in late 2005 benefiting from significant facilitation from Pakistani peacekeepers including accommodation, transportation, security, and access to UN flights. We were therefore surprised that the report concluded that only one peacekeeper was involved in aiding and abetting these illegal acts. It is our view that the assistance provided by Pakistani peacekeepers went well beyond one individual.
2. Possible failure to take into account new information. The OIOS investigation looked into alleged weapons trading between Pakistani peacekeepers and the Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI) militia in Ituri. According to your press statement, the OIOS investigation found no evidence of such acts. Yet on May 25, senior commanders of the FNI who had been responsible for some of the worst massacres in recent years put out a press statement confirming that they had received weapons and ammunition from Pakistani peacekeepers in 2005. It is not clear whether this new information was considered by OIOS.

The alleged abuses by Pakistani peacekeepers are serious. They took place in an area of eastern Congo where war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed, with repeated atrocities by the militia groups in the area. For these groups, control of the lucrative gold mining areas was a key goal, as documented in the Human Rights Watch report The Curse of Gold (available online at http://hrw.org/reports/2005/drc0505/). In this context, gold trading and possible provision of arms and ammunition by UN peacekeepers to militia groups serves directly to stoke the violence that they are intended to prevent.

Pakistan denied the charges involving its peacekeepers without any further investigation. Pakistan is a major troop-contributing country, providing 10,000 troops to UN peacekeeping operations. While the UN is understandably appreciative of that contribution, the need for such troop contributions should not mean that the United Nations is silenced when abuses like this occur. Pakistan must be called upon to fulfill its obligations.

The slow process in carrying out this investigation and the continued lack of action raises important questions about how the UN investigates itself. We note in this connection that the allegations against the Pakistanis are just one of a series of allegations that have emerged in recent months. These include allegations of gold trading by Indian peacekeepers in North Kivu, the alleged killing of two Congolese detainees and the beating of others by Bangladeshi peacekeepers in Ituri in February 2005, and ongoing allegations of sexual exploitation, among others. As far as we are aware, nobody has been prosecuted in connection with most of these cases.

Human Rights Watch has repeatedly acknowledged the important and positive role played by MONUC, the peacekeeping force in the DRC, in recent years. We have forcefully urged that the force remain strong in Congo during the difficult transition process following elections in 2006. Peacekeepers worldwide play an essential and invaluable role. But the failure to address and punish crimes committed by UN peacekeepers does nothing to help keep the peace. On the contrary, it undermines peacekeeping efforts in Congo and elsewhere.

UN peacekeepers must be held to the highest standards. When illegal behavior occurs, whether in Congo or on other peacekeeping missions, it must be investigated promptly and with transparent procedures, and lead to appropriate disciplinary or legal action. We welcome your recent announcement to send a Management Audit Team to the DRC. We hope this team will consider how the UN can more efficiently and transparently investigate allegations of misconduct in the DRC mission, work with troop contributing countries to ensure that perpetrators are held to account, and implement improved management systems to prevent such abuses in the future.

In addition to improving accountability in the DRC mission, we further believe that the United Nations needs to improve its overall system of internal oversight. Investigation alone is not enough. The UN should follow through on the results of its own investigations. Until that happens, the problems will only continue to multiply. The United Nations must take strong action to ensure that crimes are duly punished. We hope you and your colleagues at OIOS will announce how you plan to improve investigations and ensure accountability for abuses in the future. This could include trials or courts martial in the country being serviced by a peacekeeping mission, both to facilitate the production of evidence and witnesses and to ensure that justice is served in the country where the crime was committed.

Yours sincerely,

Kenneth Roth
Executive Director

Steve Crawshaw
UN Advocacy Director

cc: Under-Secretary-General William Lacy Swing, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chief of Mission, MONUC;
Under-Secretary-General Inga-Britt Ahlenius, Office of Internal Oversight Services

Interesting PDF on post genocide era in Rwanda…. lots of facts concerning the costly trials by UN.

* We now have the international Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) which has already cost the international community more than 600 million US dollars. It has an annual budget of around 100 million dollars and with the recent approval of the tribunal’s request for ad litem judges, the amount is set to increase. This is money which the international community purportedly avails to promote national reconciliation, respect for human rights and the rule of law in Rwanda. During its eight year existence, the ICTR has concluded 5 full trials and accepted guilty pleas of three suspects.

Also Ephrem Gasasira, is cited as a resource. Witnesses finger him as participating in genocide.

* The UN Tribunal for Rwanda has not acted to reprimand one of its employees Mr. Ephrem Gasasira despite a Genocide trial due to start in which he is also accused by witnesses, African Rights said on Thursday in a new report.

On January 18, 2008 the trail of Father Hormisdas Nsengimana, a Roman Catholic priest resumes at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), but interestingly, his alleged key ally during the Genocide Mr. Gasasira works with documentation department at the ICTR in Arusha – Tanzania.

African Rights claims Mr. Gasasira was president of the Court of Appeal in Nyanza (now part of Southern Province) in 1994. The campaign organization says Mr. Gasasira is accused by the same witnesses of working closely with Father Nsengimana to ensure a successful Genocide in Nyanza.