![SA_soldiers_Monusco_SANDF](https://www.defenceweb.co.za/wp-content/uploads/sa-defence/sa-defence/SA_soldiers_Monusco_SANDF.jpg)
Nine South African soldiers summarily deported from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) last October in connection with allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) were cleared but found guilty of violating base standing orders (BSOs).
This was the outcome of what the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) Directorate Corporate Communication (DCC) said was an “investigation by the national investigating officers (NIOs)” into the alleged transgressions.
defenceWeb was told none of the nine “could be linked to conduct relating to SEA” by the South African investigation. This, after Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, saying in October the UN mission received reports “they – the suspended soldiers – were fraternising after curfew hours, at an out-of-bounds bar known to be a place where transactional sex occurs”. Mission military police accompanied by conduct and discipline personnel “visited the premises to assess the reports”.
“After confirming their presence and attempting to detain the contingent members for breaching the UN’s standards of conduct and the Mission’s non-fraternisation policy, UN Mission personnel were physically assaulted and threatened by the contingent members,” Dujarric told journalists.
The South African investigation followed what the United Nations (UN) mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) said was “immediate and robust action” in the wake of “reports of serious misconduct by UN peacekeepers”. Initial measures included suspension from duty, detention and confinement to quarters. “A full-fledged investigation” was to be conducted.
The MONUSCO statement condemned the behaviour as “not being worthy of UN personnel”.
Responding to a defenceWeb inquiry, DCC said the NIOs said the soldiers had violated BSOs and were charged for breaking curfew. They were arraigned and tried by a Military Court sitting – at an undisclosed venue, but probably the Thaba Tshwane Town Hall – between December last year and February 2024.
They, DCC said, were found guilty and sentenced to fines ranging from R2 000 to R4 000 and detention to barracks [normally called “confined to barracks”] ranging from 90 to 240 days. The detention component of the sentence is suspended for two years on condition they are not convicted of a similar offence committed during the suspension.
MONUSCO was the worst UN mission for SEA offences in 2023, a report titled “Special Measures for Protection from SEA” noted. Ninety percent of the reported 758 SEA allegations in the report involved MONUSCO personnel. Number two on the suspect list was another UN mission in Africa – MINUSCA in the Central African Republic (CAR).
Apart from listing allegations and sites, the report provides an update on implementation of prevention and response to SEA. In a video message to coincide with the report’s release, Guterres said “SEA violates everything the UN stands for” adding it is “up to all of us to eradicate SEA, support victims and hold perpetrators and their enablers to account”.