17 UNMIL personnel investigated for sexual misconduct

The UN Mission in Liberia said it is investigating 17 cases of sexual misconduct by personnel, up from eight cases UNMIL said it was investigating last month. A statement released by UNMIL on Wednesday said 17 cases of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA) were under investigation dating back to the beginning of the year. In a statement issued on 7 May UNMIL had said eight SEA cases were being investigated for the same period. But on Friday, the head of UNMIL, Leuitenant General Chikadibia Isaac Obiakor, told IRIN while in the Senegalese capital Dakar for a meeting of regional UN peacekeeping force commanders, that this did not reflect a growing problem. "It's not that there has been an escalation of incidents of that nature... What has happened is out of 17 cases in total, eight have been dealt with so the others are ongoing," said Obiakor. UNMIL has some 15,000 troops in Liberia maintaining peace and security following the end of 14 years of brutal civil war in 2003. The UN peacekeeping department issued a new zero tolerance and zero contact policy after a report last year found that peacekeepers in Congo-Kinshasa had been having sex with women and girls for money and other gifts. Obiakor said his force was doing the utmost to ensure that that new zero tolerance policy is being enforced in Liberia. ak/ss/ccr