The allegations follow a U.N. report documenting the involvement of
French and African soldiers in the sexual abuse of young children while
on a peacekeeping mission between December 2013 and June 2014.
The U.N.'s peacekeeping force in Central African Republic (MINUSCA) said on Thursday it has begun a probe into claims that one of its peacekeepers sexually abused an underaged girl.
The allegations follow a U.N. report documenting the involvement of French and African soldiers in the sexual abuse of young children while on a peacekeeping mission between December 2013 and June 2014.
"The UN's head of mission Babacar Gaye
is extremely concerned about these allegations and immediately launched
the investigation process and informed the government of the Central
African Republic," MINUSCA said in a statement.
MINUSCA
said that the abuse by the peacekeeper allegedly occurred in the
country's east and that measures had immediately been put in place to
protect the victim.
The United Nations is already
under fire because of its slow response to reports of the abuse by
French and African soldiers, which included claims children were made to
perform oral sex.
It only responded publicly after an article appeared in the British newspaper The Guardian in April.
U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said this week an external independent
review would be set up on its handling of the allegations. France has
opened its own probe and says it has identified some of its soldiers
suspected of involvement.
Violence erupted in the
former French colony in 2013 after mostly Muslim Seleka rebels seized
power and then went on a looting and killing spree, prompting reprisal
attacks from militia drawn from the Christian majority.
French
soldiers and a 10,000-strong U.N. mission have helped restore order and
militias have now agreed to a preliminary disarmament deal, although
hundreds of thousands of people remain displaced.
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