UN Hides Report That Troops Traded Gold For Guns

Kofi Annan may have stepped down months ago as head of the UN but his administration's scandals are still making headlines.

UN peacekeeping forces traded guns with African militias for gold in 2005 and then tried to bury the report after it was found out.

A UN study found that the weapons were traded to Congolese militias in Mongbwalu by UN soldiers for gold. But, the study was buried for political reasons. (BBC)

The BBC reported:

Pakistani UN peacekeeping troops have traded in gold and sold weapons to Congolese militia groups they were meant to disarm, the BBC has learnt.

These militia groups were guilty of some of the worst human rights abuses during the Democratic Republic of Congo's long civil war.

The trading went on in 2005. A UN investigative team sent to gather evidence was obstructed and threatened.

The team's report was buried by the UN itself to "avoid political fallout".

These events took place in and around the mining town of Mongbwalu, in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Pakistani battalion of the UN peacekeeping mission deployed there in 2005 and helped bring peace to an area that had previously seen bitter fighting between the Lendu and Hema ethnic groups.

Fred Fry put together a partial list of recent UN scandals.