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Thursday, February 10, 2005

Tantamount

The glorious UN, that defender of the high ideals of the international community, seems to have a problem with its soldiers "dating" locals:

U.N. peacekeepers have been banned from having sex with the local population in Congo following allegations of widespread abuse of women and girls, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

Of course, "having sex with" doesn't fully define what was going on:

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

Children as young as 12 or 13 were bribed with eggs, milk or a few dollars in exchange for sex, U.N. reports said.

I'd say that "fraternization" doesn't really describe gang rapes and sex with pre-teens.

One could say it is beyond "tantamount" to rape.

But how can we be mad at those lovable rogues? They represent the international community after all.