MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay's UN troops under the spotlight

Uruguayan authorities have ordered an inquiry into allegations that Uruguayan peace keeping troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo under United Nations umbrella, have been involved in human rights abuses, following a report from Amnesty International.

According to the report Uruguayan troops that are stationed in Bunia northeast of Congo and one of the hottest areas of the inter-tribal conflict, tortured a local representative from the government.

Apparently the local official belonging to a Congolese Intelligence Pacifying Unit was arrested and questioned by Uruguayan UN troops for three days. Amnesty says he was stripped naked, repeatedly beaten, burnt with cigarettes and forced to sleep in the floor until finally released.

However United Nations in New York have yet to receive the claim and according to the Uruguayan command actually three Congolese officials were arrested after a shooting incident among rival tribes that left one dead. In the Uruguayan base a forensic UN expert checked the three and found no evidence of abuse or wounds. The three apparently are involved in the killing of a Congolese adolescent civilian.

In Uruguay, vice-president Luis Hierro said "it's hard to believe that Uruguayan troops were involved in this kind of incident. There are two parallel inquiries at the moment, from our Ministry of Defence and from the UN. Uruguayan troops have been involved in UN peace keeping operations for decades and this is the first time this kind of accusation has emerged".

Mr. Hierro added that Bunia is the roughest area in the traumatized Congo and "if the incident really occurred, sanctions will be applied. If the contrary, we also know that UN peacekeeping troops are always exposed to controversies from possible interested parties".

Nevertheless the accusation follows recent incidents where Uruguayan soldiers were involved in selling fuel and water to locals and more recently of having stolen valuable objects in a nearby Catholic church. The commanding officer of the Congo contingent and the Deputy Commander were immediately replaced and returned to Montevideo.

The Uruguayan contingent in Bunia is almost 900 strong and its main purpose is to protect civilians from the bloody fighting between rival tribes.