France has suspended two of its soldiers over allegations they sexually abused children, including a five-year-old girl, in the west African country of Burkina Faso, the Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday.
“Two French soldiers on mission in Burkina Faso were suspected ... of engaging in acts of a sexual nature with two children,” the ministry said in a statement.
The suspensions follow an alleged sex abuse scandal involving French troops in Central African Republic (CAR), which caused outrage and only came to light after claims were leaked to the British newspaper the Guardian.
One of the alleged victims in Burkina Faso was a five-year-old girl whose father found a camera with images of his daughter being sexually abused.
“There was a soldier who filmed the scene with a camera while the second touched” the girl, a senior police officer in Burkina Faso said, adding that the parents were friends with the alleged perpetrators.
After discovering the camera at the scene, the father went to the French embassy in Ouagadougou, which in turn alerted the police, who have opened an inquiry, the source said.
Paris prosecutors on Tuesday evening opened their own investigation, a judicial source said, while the defense ministry said the military was also looking into the allegations.
French Chief of Defense Staff General Pierre de Villiers is leading the army’s investigation, the ministry said.
In addition, French military police were scheduled to arrive in Bukina Faso yesterday from Niger to investigate alongside their local counterparts, a judicial source said.
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