UN mission probes possible breaches of zero-tolerance policy on sexual exploitation

The United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is investigating two weekend incidents for possible breaches of its zero-tolerance policies on sexual exploitation and abuse, a UN spokesman said today.

"In one of the incidents, Congolese police found two international civilian employees and a UN Volunteer in a Kinshasa home with 13 Congolese women," spokesman Fred Eckhard told journalists at the daily UN Headquarters briefing in New York.

The staff members of the UN Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC) were suspended until the end of the probe, he said.

Meanwhile, soldiers from MONUC's Nepalese contingent, based in the eastern Ituri district, were reported to Ugandan police as having negotiated with prostitutes while on a supply mission to Uganda, he said, and investigations have also been launched.