The United Nations suspended a Moroccan military contingent from its peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast while it investigated allegations of widespread sexual abuse, the world body said on Saturday.
"It means they don't participate in our operations," said Hamadoun Toure, spokesman for the UN mission in Ivory Coast (ONUCI). "Those who are found guilty will be sent back home." A statement from the United Nations said the measure was in addition to a decision to confine the entire battalion of 734 soldiers to barracks.
UN officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Friday the investigation involved Moroccan soldiers having sex with a large number of underage girls in the West African country's northern rebel stronghold of Bouake.
Toure said the allegations had come to light after the mission ran a campaign against sexual exploitation in which it asked local people to inform it about abuses.