BANGUI, Central African Republic

French judges have begun hearing testimony from Central African girls who claim to have been raped by French soldiers in 2013 and 2014 in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), the mother of one alleged victim has told Anadolu Agency.

The hearings follow the launch of a criminal investigation last year by a Paris prosecutor into a raft of allegations that at least 14 French soldiers deployed in CAR had sexually abused Central African children.

Elizabeth M., the mother one alleged victim, told Abadolu Agency that the judges had arrived on Tuesday “to investigate the allegations”.

“The children gave their testimony in Sango [a local language], which was later translated into French for the judges,” she said.

Last April, Anders Kompass, a senior UN aid worker, told French prosecutors that a number of children as young as nine years old had been subject to sexual abuse by French peacekeepers deployed in CAR.

According to the UN, more than a dozen children aged between 9 and 13 were allegedly subject to abuse at Bangui’s M'Poko airport. 

A UN source told Andolu Agency that, so far, 11 children had testified before the French judges, who would now compare their testimonies with earlier reports of abuse.

So far, three of the 14 French soldiers accused of committing abuse have been identified, according to the same source.

In 2013, France – with a UN mandate to restore security to poverty-stricken CAR – deployed 1,600 troops to the country, its former colony.