France investigates alleged child abuse by its troops in Central Africa

Pulse Staff 11:17 - 07 May 2015

PARIS, May 7 (Reuters) - Paris prosecutors said on Thursday a judicial investigation targeting unnamed people had been opened into alleged child sex abuse by French soldiers in the Central African Republic.

The prosecutors' office said in a statement it had decided to open the investigation after written consultation with the author of a United Nations report which first raised the allegations.

A preliminary investigation was opened last July based on the U.N report detailing the alleged abuse between December 2013 and June 2014 at a centre for displaced people at M'Poko airport in the capital Bangui. (Reporting by Chine Labbe; writing by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Andrew Callus)