24346: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti-UN-Sex Abuse (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Fbe 24 (AP) -- Two United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti
have been suspended and may be sent home to Pakistan after an investigation
found they had sex with a prostitute, U.N. officials said Thursday.
   The men will be repatriated if a board of inquiry confirms the findings
of a U.N. and Haitian police investigation, said Damian Onses-Cardona,
spokesman for the 7,400-member force. The board is expected to make a
decision in two weeks, said Onses-Cardona.
   The investigation stemmed from allegations that three Pakistani police
officers had raped a 23-year-old woman in the central city of Gonaives.
   Locals told U.N. peacekeepers they had seen two men engaging in sexual
acts with the woman in a banana field on Feb. 18, said Jean Lafaille,
commander of the U.N. police unit in Gonaives. A third Pakistani was
present but did not participate, said Lafaille.
   When interviewed by investigators, the woman acknowledged she had been
paid for the sex, Lafaille said. Attempts to reach the woman were
unsuccessful.
   The suspensions come as the United Nations investigates sexual abuse
allegations in a handful of countries around the world, most notably in
Congo. Onses-Cardona said if the men are sent back, it would be up to the
Pakistani government to decide whether further action is needed.
   U.N. peacekeepers replaced a U.S.-led force in June in Haiti, four
months after demobilized soldiers led a rebellion that sent President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide into exile Feb. 29.