DRC: Inquiry opens into sexual abuse allegations against peacekeeper

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has announced that an independent investigation has begun into allegations of violent sexual abuse by a soldier serving with the force in the troubled northeast of the country. Investigators from the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) are already on the ground in Bunia, the capital of Ituri district, to conduct the probe, according to a press release issued by the mission (known as MONUC).