But UN wants them out, citing allegations of financial corruption
Ukraine wants to keep its peacekeepers in Lebanon despite a U.N. demand that they be withdrawn over allegations of financial abuse, the Foreign Ministry said during a regularly scheduled briefing on Sept. 6.
An investigation has shown significant financial misconduct by the Ukrainian military unit in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), including by the commanding officer, and they are set to be replaced.
The findings and recommendation, submitted in a report following an investigation conducted by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) at UNIFIL’s request, were shared with the Ukrainian officials.
UNIFIL consists of some 2,000 soldiers under the command of a French general. The mission has been in the south of Lebanon since 1978.
“The UN has initiated action to replace the Ukrainian unit in UNIFIL and is taking necessary measures to prevent a recurrence,” UN spokesperson Marie Okabe said on Sept. 2.
According to Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, the offending Ukrainian solders have been repatriated and several criminal cases have been opened.
Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk has also discussed the case directly with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the ministry said.
Defense Ministry Spokesman Vasyl Filipchuk, meanwhile, told The Associated Press on Sept. 6 that Ukrainian officials “are doing their best” to keep Ukrainian peacekeepers in Lebanon, at least until December.
Defense Ministry spokesman Andriy Lysenko was not available for comment on Sept. 7. The ministy’s Web site’s last “news item” about Lebanon, dated Aug. 17, 2005, is glowing report about the contingent’s peacekeeping work. It does not mention the fuel scandal or UN investigation at all.
Ukraine over the years has participated in several peacekeeping missions worldwide, including the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq.
Prosecutors in June said that the former head of Ukraine’s peacekeeping mission there had been arrested on charges of smuggling about $300 back to Ukraine. Four months earlier, a group of Ukrainian soldiers escorting a dead comrade back from Iraq were found with packs of the money hidden in their sneakers, coat pockets and pieces of luggage.
Ukraine participated in the ill-fated U.N.-led peacekeeping operation in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992-95. Ukrainian peacekeepers have also been deployed in Kosovo, Congo, Lebanon, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Liberia and the former Soviet republic of Moldova.
