French soldier charged with Burkina Faso child abuse

A French soldier has been charged with child abuse over claims a video was discovered showing him touching young girls at a swimming pool in Burkina Faso.

Agnès Thibault-Lecuivre, a spokeswoman for Paris prosecutors, on Saturday confirmed that the soldier had been charged with sexual abuse of a minor. A second suspect was freed without charge.

Two soldiers were repatriated on Wednesday and arrested on Thursday, days after they left a GoPro portable camera at the home of one of the alleged victims, which allegedly contained footage of the soldier abusing the girls, aged three and five.

It is the second case of alleged sexual abuse of minors by French soldiers in Africa to surface in recent months after the Guardian was passed the internal report on the sexual exploitation of children by French soldiers in the Central African Republic.

There are about 220 French soldiers stationed in Burkina Faso as part of a French anti-terrorism operation covering five regional countries spanning from Mali to Chad.

The father of one of the alleged victims told Agence France-Presse his daughter met the two soldiers during an afternoon outing to the pool with the mother of the younger girl.

The two men were so charming – one of them particularly good with the children – that the mother invited them to her house for coffee, the French news agency reported.

The girl’s father said he even met the two special forces soldiers hours later when he went to pick up his daughter.

When they left, they forgot their GoPro portable camera, which instead of showing skydiving or fighting, allegedly contained images of the two girls being abused, apparently by one of the soldiers.

The girl’s father said he has still not watched the tape, which the mother of the other child took to the French embassy. But he says he hasn’t been able to sleep since it was discovered.

“What happened is horrible,” the 31-year-old artist told AFP, on the verge of tears.

“It’s like something out of a film ... But there’s a point when I have to stand up and fight for these children, for my daughter, to keep their honour because it’s disgusting, disgusting,” he said.

France is still reeling from accusations its soldiers sexually abused young boys in the Central African Republic.

A report leaked to the Guardian in April details the rape of starving and homeless young boys by French peacekeeping troops at a centre for internally displaced people.

One 11-year-old boy said he was abused when he went out looking for food. A nine-year-old described being sexually abused with his friend by two French soldiers when they went to a checkpoint to look for something to eat.

Commanding officers quickly sent the two soldiers in the latest case home and French authorities opened an investigation into the claims, as have police in Burkina Faso. But the girl’s father says two French police officers sent to speak to him were dismissive.

“Why are they not being judged here? There is a justice system, laws,” in Burkina Faso, he said. “That means anyone can do whatever they want if they are a French soldier abroad.”

He has hired a lawyer in France who specialises in child abuse cases, and says he hopes for harsh punishments for the two men “so that they never do such a thing again”.

The man has also lodged a complaint in Burkina Faso against the repatriation of the soldiers.

“Me and my family have been taken for idiots... I thank heaven, God, that my daughter has not realised what is happening.”

Still, he added, “she knows very well that, with all that has happened, the questions she has been asked, something is not normal”.