France Suspend Soldiers Over Alleged Child Sexual Abuse In Burkina Faso

France has suspended two of its soldiers over allegations that they sexually abused children in Burkina Faso, and asked authorities there to “quickly return” the military suspects, according to the French government.



“Two French soldiers on mission in Burkina Faso were suspected… of engaging in acts of a sexual nature with two children,” France’s defence ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

The suspensions follow an alleged sex abuse scandal involving French troops in Central African Republic, which caused outrage and only came to light after claims were leaked to the British press.
One of the alleged victims in Burkina Faso was a five-year-old girl whose father found a camera containing images of his daughter being sexually abused.

“There was a soldier who filmed the scene with a camera while the second touched” the girl, a senior police officer in Burkina Faso told the AFP news agency, adding that the parents were friends with the alleged perpetrators.

After discovering the camera at the scene, the father went to the French embassy in Ouagadougou, which in turn alerted the police, who have opened an inquiry, the source said.