*Sigh* Another Day, Another UN Peacekeeper Sex Scandal

One cannot help but wonder how the "internationalist" supporters of the UN will creatively ignore this latest exposure. It seems that a large contingent of Moroccan troops attached to the UN peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast have been confined to their barracks while the UN investigates allegations of widespread sexual abuse of underage girls.

ABIDJAN, Cote d'Ivoire (Reuters) — 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.

It is to the UN's credit that they are actively investigating this and that Ban Ki Moon's stewardship of the UN is off to a much better start than the thoroughly corrupt Kofi Annan. But it still calls into question the entire UN structure, especially in the peacekeeping area.