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Belgian UN troops admit to 'roasting' Somali boy

Electronic Telegraph ^ | 24 June 1997 | Robert Fox and AFP

Posted on by ijcr

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 an 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."

CBC wrote this about the Canadian troops "It's coming in waves now, embarrassing revelation after revelation. Just after the release of disturbing home videos shot by Canadian soldiers in Somalia, comes this - brutal home movies shot during military hazing rituals. Soldiers are shown eating feces and engaging in imitated acts of sodomy. One black soldier has "KKK" smeared onto his back with feces. In this commentary, the CBC's Rex Murphy describes the sorry state of the Airborne division. "We promised them peacekeepers," he says angrily, "and in some cases, we sent them thugs."

Click Here For CBC Video



TOPICS:

Canada

Crime/Corruption

Extended News

Foreign Affairs

KEYWORDS:

atrocities

belgium

somalia

torture

un

uncorruption

The Canadian pictures were worse than anything from Abu Ghraib, how soon we forget.



To: ijcr

Sorry but I am a perfect RATmediaized American, I can't remember anything past three weeks ago.



by 2 posted onby justshutupandtakeit (America's Enemies: foreign and domestic RATmedia agree Bush must be destroyed.)

To: ijcr

Yeah, this is far worse than the Abu Ghraib crap.



To: ijcr

Hmmm...the story isn't entirely clear here;



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.



Ah...so did they actually kill him, put him on a spit, and then put him over a fire? Or was it some kind of fake picture of that?



To: ijcr; ambrose

Now, this is far worse than anything that happened in Abu Ghraib. At least our guys were not making the prisoners eat their own vomit or smearing them with feces ....and they were definitely not roasting boys over flamier biers. However, because Americans did not do these things the media will not report it in the US. This is a one day story. Sad. As an aside: If you want to stop slavery in the Sudan, have an American go and buy one slave. The outcry will be so great that steps will be taken to stop the rampant slave trade in Sudan. However, because it is being done by Muslims (who enslave the souther Sudanese Christians), no one gives a darn.



by 5 posted onby spetznaz (Nuclear missiles: The ultimate Phallic symbol.)

To: ijcr

Murderous westerners against innocent third worlders, you get the picture...



To: ijcr

It's so nice to know the War Crimes Court is in Brussells ready to try Americans for hate crimes.



To: ijcr

I demand that Rumsfeld stepdown for this /sarcasm off



People forget about other countries atrocities, from the French involvement in Rwanda to the Canadians in Somalia. This is not moral equivolency nor is it perspective what we have here is hypocracy.



by 8 posted onby aft_lizard (This space reserved for Sean Hannity to usurp:-))

To: swilhelm73

by 9 posted onby ijcr (Age and treachery will always overcome youth and ability.)

To: MissAmericanPie

You do seem to forget that our President won't allow it. Of course Kerry probably would, yet another reason why everyone needs to vote Bush come November.



To: ijcr

I can picture an editorial board reviewing this for potential to hurt Bush, not finding any, and putting it on page 23.



To: kezekiel

putting it on page 23 Other than the article and picture copied and preserved at #9 does any Freeper remember ever hearing of this story when it happened, on Clinton's watch? The silence was deafening.



To: kezekiel

roasted somalian i think they are betterstir fried



To: ijcr

Pictures, videos, witnesses, hearings, we want it all.



Oh, I forgot they are Canucks and waffle chompers, not Americans so will they get a pass.



by 14 posted onby Ursus arctos horribilis ("It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!" Emiliano Zapata 1879-1919)

To: Ursus arctos horribilis

I follow the news carefully and don't remember EVER hearing anything about this: 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.



To: spetznaz

Actually some Americans HAVE been buying slaves in the Sudan, as a way to free them. The buying gets no more coverage than the rest of the slavery issue. What we need to do is send Rev. Jesse and Rev. Al over there then notify some naive slavers that high ranking black Christian church leaders are invading their turf.



To: CWOJackson

Won't allow it? The door is far from closed in regards to the ICC court, except for key individuals for now. We have not seen the last of that monster by any means.



To: MissAmericanPie

Sorry to burst your bubble but the President's already made it plain and clear...not on his watch.



To: justshutupandtakeit

lol



by 19 posted onby wardaddy (This is it. We either win and prevail or we lose and get tossed into that dustbin W mentioned!)

To: ijcr

"The image of the United Nations has been tarnished." Hahahaha!! Oh, stop, I can't breathe, excuse me while I go change my pants, hahahahaha!!



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