Second verse same as the first

Where have we heard this tune before?

The United Nations said on Saturday it had suspended a Moroccan military contingent from its peacekeeping mission in Cote d'Ivoire while it investigated allegations of widespread sexual abuse.

"It means they don't participate in our operations," said Hamadoun Toure, spokesman for the U.N. mission in Cote d'Ivoire (ONUCI). "Those who are found guilty will be sent back home."
The world body said the measure was in addition to a decision to confine the entire battalion of 734 soldiers to barracks.

U.N. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Friday the investigation involved Moroccan soldiers having sex with a large number of underage girls in the West African country's northern rebel stronghold of Bouake.

Toure said the allegations had come to light after the mission ran a campaign against sexual exploitation in which it asked local people to inform it about abuses. It then sent a team to carry out interviews and gather information.

Another test for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. His early tenure as the UN's top guy hasn't been easy. The NorK counterfeiting scandal couldn't overlook his office, he's still feeling the fallout from the Oil-For-FoodFraud scandal. Three indictments have been handed down in the OFF investigations to Tongsun Pak, Benon Sevon, and David Bay Chalmers, Jr. And, of course, we can't forget the Congo sex scandal, which was the first time we heard of this one-hit-wonder continuing problem.

This time it's the secretary-general's neck on the table. He can't play the Kofi Annan game of "cover-up" and spin. He claimed he had the problem cleaned up. It's damned obvious that it's anything but solved.

HT: Professor Reynolds

Publius II