Time: Tue Jun 24 10:52:11 1997 by primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id KAA05907; Tue, 24 Jun 1997 10:53:30 -0700 (MST) by usr10.primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id KAA26218; Tue, 24 Jun 1997 10:53:25 -0700 (MST) Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 10:51:47 -0700 To: (Recipient list suppressed) From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: SLS: Belgian UN troops admit to 'roasting' Somali boy (fwd) <snip> > > Belgian UN troops admit to 'roasting' Somali boy > > by Robert Fox and AFP > >TWO Belgian paratroopers who were photographed "roasting" a Somali boy >over a flaming brazier are expected to be jailed for only a month and >fined #200 after admitting the atrocity in a military court in Brussels >yesterday. > >Privates Claude Baert and Kurt Coelus faced a maximum of a year in jail >but the prosecutor demanded only a month. Sentence will be passed on >Monday. The case against a third soldier accused of atrocities during >the United Nations "Restore Hope" mission three years ago was adjourned >until September. > >Sgt Dirk Nassel is accused of forcing a young Somali to eat pork, drink >salt water, and then eat his vomit. The three soldiers were charged with >assault and threatening behaviour. > >A fourth member of the 3rd battalion of the Parachute Regiment, based at >Tielen in Flanders, is also due to go on trial in September. Sergeant >Major Rudy Derkinderen is suspected of having murdered a Somali whom he >was photographed urinating on. > >The circumstances surrounding the death of another child at the >paratroopers' base near Kismayo in southern Somalia are also under >investigation. According to the testimony of two former paratroopers, >the boy, who had been caught trying to steal food, died after being >locked in a container for 48 hours. > >The Defence Minister, Jean-Pol Poncelet, has promised that any of the >paratroopers found guilty of criminal acts in Somalia will be >dishonourably discharged. Baert has already left the army but Coelus is >now in the navy and Nassel has remained at Tielen. > >Mr Poncelet has also ordered an inquiry to establish whether the >incidents were part of a broader pattern of abuse of the local >population. If it is, he has promised to disband the 3rd battalion. > >Fifteen members of the regiment were investigated in 1995 for "acts of >sadism and torture" against Somalian civilians. > >One paratrooper has been sentenced to five years, following the murder >of a Somalian youth, who allegedly had uncovered illegal arms trading by >the paratroopers. Belgium is the third country involved in the "Restore >Hope" mission to charge its soldiers for serious misdemeanours against >Somalian civilians, including rape, torture and murder. In 1995 a group >of Canadian paratroopers were investigated for torturing a Somali to >death and killing three others. > >The charges of indiscipline, racism, and the rituals for new members of >the unit led to the Canadian Airborne Regiment being disbanded last >year. Earlier this month gruesome photographs were published in a Milan >magazine of Italian soldiers torturing a young Somali youth, and abusing >and raping a young Somali girl. Two Italian generals involved in >"Restore Hope" have subsequently resigned to clear the way for a major >investigation of the unit involved, the Folgore (Lightning) Division >currently deployed on peacekeeping duties in Albania. > >The Italian parliament has set up a major investigation and boards of >inquiry of the Italian army are at work. Paratroopers of the Folgore >claim that they were specifically trained in methods of torture to aid >interrogation. According to one witness Italian soldiers tied a young >Somali girl to the front of a armoured carrier and raped her while >officers looked on. > >The witness told investigators: "When the officers wanted to have fun, >everybody went along with it." > >Over the weekend an interpreter with the Italian force in Somalia >accused a Folgore battalion commander of sexually abusing a 13-year-old >Somali youth. The "Restore Hope" mission has become the most >controversial of all recent peacekeeping operations undertaken under the >UN banner. It was mandated in 1992 to provide medical aid and food after >civil order in Somalia collapsed following the overthrow of the Marxist >dictator Maj Gen Muhammad Siad Barri, after a 17-year civil war. > >The operation was directed by an American admiral, and spearheaded by >American Marines. After the murder of 20 Pakistani soldiers in an ambush >and the killing and dragging of two American Marines through the streets >of Mogadishu, the American command moved from peacekeeping to offensive >operations against the warlords running the main Somali cities, >principally Mogadishu and Kismayo. > >Though they used helicopter gunships and area bombardment, the Americans >failed to defeat the leading warlord, Gen Muhammad Farrah Aidid, and >eventually the UN forces were ordered to withdraw. A common thread >through the accusations against the Belgian, Italian and Canadian >forces, is the racism of elite units, particularly airborne units, and >their inability to adapt to low-intensity peacekeeping operations. > >Last week an Italian paratrooper said: "What's the big deal? They are >just niggers anyway." > >The head of the UN's peacekeeping department, Under Secretary General >Bernard Miyet, said: "The image of the United Nations has been >tarnished." > > >--------------------------------------------------------- >Get Your *Web-Based* Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com >--------------------------------------------------------- > >-> Send "subscribe snetnews " to majordomo@world.std.com >-> Posted by: "Brian Mosely" <bmosely@hotmail.com> > > > ======================================================================== Paul Andrew Mitchell : Counselor at Law, federal witness B.A., Political Science, UCLA; M.S., Public Administration, U.C. Irvine tel: (520) 320-1514: machine; fax: (520) 320-1256: 24-hour/day-night email: [address in tool bar] : using Eudora Pro 3.0.2 on 586 CPU website: http://www.supremelaw.com : visit the Supreme Law Library now ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech, at its best Tucson, Arizona state : state zone, not the federal zone Postal Zone 85719/tdc : USPS delays first class w/o this As agents of the Most High, we came here to establish justice. We shall not leave, until our mission is accomplished and justice reigns eternal. ======================================================================== [This text formatted on-screen in Courier 11, non-proportional spacing.]
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