ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast - The United Nations is investigating Moroccan peacekeepers suspected of sexually abusing girls under age 18 in Ivory Coast and possibly leaving some of them pregnant, a UN spokeswoman said Sunday.
Another UN official said as many as 100 girls may have been abused over the last several months. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
The UN said Friday in New York City an investigation of peacekeeping troops had "revealed serious allegations of widespread sexual exploitation and abuse'' in the West African country.
Margherita Amodeo, a spokeswoman for the UN mission in Ivory Coast, said Sunday the suspects were part of a unit in a 730-strong battalion of Moroccan peacekeepers and the entire battalion is now confined to barracks in the northern city Bouake while the allegations are investigated.
Few details of the allegations have come to light and Amodeo said only they concern girls under the age of 18.
"There were a number of cases involving minors but only an investigation will reveal the ages of the victims'' and details of any abuse, she said.
There is a "possibility'' some of the victims were pregnant or gave birth to children, Amodeo said. But she could not confirm any such cases.
Any peacekeepers found to have committed abuses will be sent home and punished under the laws of their country, the UN said.
About 9,000 UN troops and 3,500 French soldiers have been deployed in Ivory Coast, the world's largest cocoa-producer, to prevent all-out civil war since 2003.
Many of the troops used to patrol the giant buffer zone that divided the country into a rebel-controlled north and a government-ruled south after a brief civil war in 2002.
Since signing a peace deal March 4, Ivorians have begun dismantling the buffer zone, and some of the international peacekeepers have been preparing to leave.
Amodeo said allegations against the peacekeeping mission were "isolated'' and "should not detract from the remarkable work of the UN mission in Ivory Coast, particularly the work of the Moroccan soldiers.''
The allegations are the first of their kind against the UN mission in Ivory Coast. However, UN officials have said more than 300 members of peacekeeping missions worldwide have been investigated for sexual exploitation and abuse over the last three years in countries including Congo, Cambodia and Haiti.
At least 18 civilian employees have been dismissed and 17 international police and 144 military personnel sent back to their home countries.
The UN held a three-day conference in the Dominican Republic last month as part of an effort to eliminate sexual misconduct in its global operations.
Amodeo said sexual exploitation is unacceptable and all UN troops in the country received educational training about the problem.
"At the time of their deployment and during their presence in the country, the peacekeepers are sensitized on the policy of zero tolerance concerning exploitation and abuse,'' Amodeo said.
