Ivorians unshocked by UN sex abuse accusations

BOUAKE, Ivory Coast, July 25 (Reuters) Allegations that UN soldiers sexually exploited underage girls in Ivory Coast may have shocked the world body but locals say sex with foreign troops is a common survival tactic in a war-ravaged economy.

A contingent of 734 Moroccan soldiers serving in the north of the West African state has been suspended and confined to its barracks pending an investigation into abuse over a three-year period involving large numbers of girls as young as 13.

The accusations are the latest in a string of such cases to hit UN missions in Africa, where reports of abuse have mounted in recent years as peacekeeping has expanded, despite a ''zero tolerance'' policy declared by the world body.

In northern Ivory Coast's town of Bouake, a rebel stronghold where the Moroccans are stationed, locals say sexual relations between peacekeepers and local girls are commonplace.

''It is all related to poverty. These are very poor young village girls,'' said Youssouf Oomar, head of UN children's agency UNICEF in Ivory Coast. ''When they are in poverty they get poorer and get caught up in what could be called survival sex.'' In a rebel zone with no justice system where rights abuses including rape are regularly denounced in UN reports, local people are unsurprised by talk of sex in exchange for money.

''Often it's the girls who go to them ... they think they have all the money in the world,'' said Abiba Coulibaly, 19, who is finishing secondary school but already works as a trader. She said she had often seen young girls approach soldiers.

A manager at a popular night spot said women of 20 years or older would usually pursue them into her bar. She said the troops stopped coming more than a month ago.

''It's not a big deal. This is between the Moroccans and the girls. They do that to earn a few coins,'' said Souleymane Bamba, who sells onions at Bouake's market, a few kilometres from the main UN base on the southern edge of town.

Ivorians have in the past been quick to stage protests against UN and French peacekeepers, especially in the south where they are viewed as sympathising with the rebels, but many in Bouake were as quick to blame local girls as the soldiers.

Some however were angered by the age of the youngest girls involved.

''If it's on minors, it's a true scandal. No-one can condone sex with minors. For the adults, they are adults,'' said Doctor Pol Ahipo, head of the health centre in Brobo, 25 km (16 miles) east of Bouake and opposite one of Moroccan bases.

All UN blue helmets are banned from having sex with locals but the allegations will inspire little confidence the world body is succeeding in stamping out abuse after similar scandals hit its missions in Liberia and Democratic Republic of Congo.

In Congo there were accusations that girls who agreed to be the girlfriend of one soldier then became victims of gang rape.

The allegations made public in Ivory Coast so far have not gone into such detail.

POVERTY TRAP Poverty has grown in the world's top cocoa grower. The percentage of the population below the poverty line has risen to 43 percent in 2006 from 38 per cent since a brief 2002-2003 civil war in which rebel seized the northern half.

On both sides of the divide, adults and children have been forced to beg in what was once a stable and wealthy state.

The Moroccan peacekeepers are in the former French colony to support a peace process that was revived in March by an agreement between President Laurent Gbagbo and rebel leader Guillaume Soro. They make up the bulk of the force in Bouake.

With a small allowance of 39 dollar per month while their salaries are paid in their home country, some locals said the Moroccans sold UN rations of tinned or dried food to pay for sex. Ration boxes are on sale for around 2 dollar at local market stalls.

''They don't force the girls. It's the girls who approach them and ask them for help. The girls do it as a business. They don't want to do anything so they're there selling themselves.

Sincerely, I have nothing against them (the Moroccans),'' said Massita Doumbia, a 28-year-old Bouake trader.

''They ask you to be their girlfriend. ... They ask us, but I refuse because I only go to them to sell,'' she said.

Though many locals claim to have known about such practices for a year or longer, complaints about the Moroccan troops only began to come in after a recent UN campaign calling on people to report sexual abuse and exploitation.

''People who lived in these areas didn't speak. It's because of the poverty. That is why people just shut up and sometimes accept things which they hate. People become fatalistic and it becomes a question of survival,'' Oomar said.

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