UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has sacked the head of the UN mission in the Central African Republic (CAR) after another sexual abuse scandal hit the world body’s peacekeeping forces in the African country.

Ban said on Wednesday that he has asked Babacar Gaye to step aside, and that the Senegalese diplomat, who heads the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), has “tendered his resignation.”

The move came after Amnesty International accused a UN peacekeeper of raping a 12-year-old girl. The UN forces also shot dead a teenager and his father during a recent operation to arrest a former rebel leader in the capital, Bangui, according to the UK-based rights body.

The offensive on August 2 and 3 also led to the killing of a Cameroonian peacekeeper and four other people.

Similar claims of child abuse were previously made against other members of the UN mission to CAR.
“When the United Nations deploys peacekeepers, we do so to protect the world’s most vulnerable people in the world’s most desperate places,” Ban said, adding, “I will not tolerate any action by people who replace trust with fear.”


[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="555"] Babacar Gaye, head of the UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (CAR) © AFP[/caption]

There are also allegations of sex abuse against French troops, with reports saying they sexually abused children in the Central African Republic in exchange for food. Paris says it is investigating the claims.

“I cannot put into words how anguished and angered and ashamed I am by recurrent reports over the years of sexual exploitation and abuse by UN forces…Enough is enough,” Ban said.

The Central African Republic has been convulsed by turmoil since December 2013, when Christian armed groups launched coordinated attacks against the mostly Muslim Seleka group that toppled the government in March that year.

Since January 2014, the CAR has been run by a transitional government. Presidential and parliamentary elections in the country are scheduled for October 18.

By Press TV