The Moroccan mission to the United Nations has announced it arrested six UN peacekeeping soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) accused of sexually abusing local girls and discharged the contingent's commander.

Fred Eckhard, the UN secretary-general's spokesman, on Monday said the announcement over the weekend showed "the Morrocan authorities attach as much importance to eradicating sexual abuse within UN peacekeeping missions as does the UN."

"The mission hopes that the vigorous and public reaction of Morocco will serve as an example and that other troop contributing countries will follow," he added.

There have been more than 150 allegations of sexual exploitation of girls as young as 13 by UN peacekeepers in the DRC.

Annan last Wednesday urged the Security Council to add at least 100 military police to the peacekeeping mission in the country to help prevent sex abuse by the UN forces.

Eckhard said other measures had been taken, including improved surveillance around UN military camps, a curfew and the shuttering of local stores where soldiers interacted with locals.

Allegations of abuse first surfaced in 2004 and the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services said abuse by peacekeepers was ongoing.

According to last month's report by the UN watchdog agency, peacekeepers regularly had sex with Congolese women and girls, usually in exchange for food or small sums of money.

Sexual activities continued even while the investigation was continuing in the eastern town of Bunia between May and September 2004, the report said.

The United Nations currently has about 11,500 soldiers, 150 civilian police and 700 international staff in the country trying to support its fragile peace process and help it move towards free elections later this year.

In October, the council authorized an increase in the UN mission to 16,700.

Meanwhile, the United Nations mission in the DRC urged other countries to follow Morocco's lead and take strong action against peacekeeping soldiers accused of sexually abusing girls in the central African country.

Although the United Nations can investigate allegations against its peacekeepers, it has to rely on their home nations to punish them.

Some troops have escaped sanction in the past because of the attitudes of their home commanders, UN officials say.

Over the past year the United Nations has probed 150 allegations against about 50 soldiers of various nationalities in the country of sexual exploitation of women and girls, including gang rapes.

The only known prosecution against troops until Morocco's announcement had been by South Africa against two of its soldiers. France jailed a UN staffer on charges of rape and making pornographic videos of children. Allegations have also been made against soldiers from Nepal, Tunisia and Uruguay.

The UN last week banned peacekeepers from having sex with Congolese as part of a new "non-fraternization policy."

On Monday, a senior military law officer of South Africa will join in an investigation into alleged sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers in the DRC.

"Commander Gordon Wardley, 43, has been seconded for a three month period to the United Nations to investigate alleged sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeeping troops in the DRC," South African National Defence Force spokesman John Rolt.

Rolt said since 2002 Wardley has served for six months as legal adviser to the UN Force commander in the DRC and for nine months as the UN Force commander's legal adviser in Liberia.

(China Daily February 16, 2005)