/ 25 February 2001

PROBE INTO ALLEGED SEX ABUSE BY DANES

TWO Danish investigators are due to visit Eritrea to look into accusations that Danish peacekeepers serving there sexually abused a 13-year-old girl. A group of soldiers, belonging to a UN force protecting the buffer zone between Ethiopia and Eritrea, are accused of “inappropriate behaviour towards the clients of a hotel,” the Danish army said, without disclosing names or details concerning the incident. One Danish peacekeeper who was at the hotel where the troops were staying while off-duty a week ago said the accusations were baseless. “They are nothing but story-tellers,” he said. – AFP