The UN mission in Sudan has repatriated four Bangladeshi peacekeepers over the past year as a result of investigations over sexual abuse allegations, UN spokesperson Michele Montas said Thursday.

The case involving the soldiers will be pursued within the jurisdiction of the Bangladeshi government and the UN's Department of Peacekeeping Operations will follow up with the Bangladeshi authorities to make sure that they are disciplined, Montas said.

She said the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services has a team permanently based in Sudan, where it has been probing misconduct allegations involving UN personnel in Sudan since February 2006.

There are 13 ongoing investigations regarding allegations of serious misconduct, including sexual exploitation and abuse, she added.

Asked whether the cases being investigated were the same as those reported in the Daily Telegraph, the spokesperson said that would need to be determined because the cases that the United Nations is studying date back to 2005.

The British newspaper reported on Tuesday that it had gathered about 20 accounts from victims in the southern Sudanese town of Juba, accusing UN civilian and peacekeeping staff of committing sexual offenses to them.

Montas said Wednesday that the United Nations is deeply concerned by the report and is looking into it to determine if the allegations are new or are existing cases already under investigation.

Source: Xinhua