Morocco : Ivorian girls confess lying about Moroccan soldiers’ sexual abuse
Thirteen Ivorian girls from the former rebels’ stronghold of Bouake (379 km from Abidjan) asserted they had been manipulated by a local non-governmental organisation to accuse the Moroccan peacekeeping troops of “sexual abuse and exploitation,” a document of the UN operations in Cote d’Ivoire (UNOCI) reports here.
According to the document, the girls revealed that the NGO representative bribed them with money, bed sheets, clothes and soap to testify against the Moroccan troops.
The head of the Human Rights Office of the eastern sector of the UN mission heard the girls last 23 and 24 July. APA interviewed some of these girls who confirmed the story.
“A woman named Viviane asked us to frame the Moroccan troops. She told us that if we testified against these soldiers, her NGO would give us bed sheets, soap, and money to set up a business,” one of the girls, Marie Koffi, said.
“She (Viviane) also asked us to present ourselves as underage girls in order to benefit from assistance. For instance, those that were 24 years old said they were 15, and so on. That is how she fooled us,” Marie Koffi slammed.
According to the mother of a 21-month old baby, Viviane bought herself a new car and two latest mobile phones just after her ploy. Though presently wanted, the manipulator has achieved her goal, she said.
“I am neither ashame nor afraid to talk to reporters because I know the facts are wrong. God loves truth. It is true that Moroccan soldiers were looking for women, but we are no longer minors,” another girl Mariam Kone, 23, emphasised.
She underlined that the other UN peacekeeping contingents deployed in Bouake, French and Ghanaian, were also implicated in the ploy up to an extent.
“The so-called Viviane spoke to us in an office located in Air France district. I cannot remember the queer name of the NGO. If you have a Black baby, she asks you to accuse a Ghanaian soldier of being the father. If the baby is fair in complexion, she asks you to accuse a Moroccan,” Mariam Kone affirmed.
On Saturday 21 July, UNOCI issued a statement in the aftermath of these controversial allegations announcing the suspension of all activities of the Moroccan contingent in Bouake.
This move aimed at “opening an internal inquiry into the alleged cases of sexual exploitation and abuse”.
On 6 June 2007, Morocco sent another batch of troops to replace its sixth contingent of 737-men deployed in Bouake in December 2006, as part of the 8,000-troops of UN Operation in Cote d’Ivoire (UNOCI). Morocco’s contingent is the second largest in the UNOCI force after that of Bangladesh.
what the hell are moroccan troops doing in cote d'ivoire?????
salam first sorry.
Il faut se garder de trois fautes : parler sans y être invité, ce qui est impertinence ;
ne pas parler quand on y est invité, ce qui est de la dissimulation ;
parler sans observer les réactions de l'autre, ce qui est de l'aveuglement. [Confucius]
Ahlan Shireen; THe question is the NGOs that are multiplying like mushrooms and getting funds with no accountability have some accounting to do! It is a shame to have so many NGOs in the third world, while some are doing great work, the governments should be doing in the first place, some are looking to be on the news and manfacture scoops! It's a shame, I hope "Viviane" would be sent to court before she's sent home and striped of her credentials as a VOl-unteer and her Resume stamped as DO NOT ADMIT. Was I too harsh?
chargement...
