After questioning more than 100 people about alleged torture and sexual abuse by Italian troops in Somalia, a government-appointed commission concluded Friday that there were isolated offenses but top commanders played no role.
"Some isolated cases of torture and racism did occur, but they didn't compromise either the humanitarian spirit of the mission or the entire Italian contingent," said commission president, Ettore Gallo, a retired president of Italy's Constitutional Court.The panel was appointed by Premier Romano Prodi's government in June to look into claims that Italy's contingent in Somalia committed a host of abuses against Somali civilians.
The 1992-1995 multinational relief effort in Somalia, called Operation Restore Hope, has been tarnished in recent months by claims of wrongdoing by troops from participating nations.
Witness accounts and souvenir snapshots taken by peacekeepers from Canada, Belgium, Italy and other countries have revealed an array of alleged crimes by foreign troops, including the torture, rape and murder of Somalis.
A Canadian commission investigating that country's peacekeepers' conduct during the humanitarian mission concluded last month that senior officers lied and attempted to cover up the killing of a Somali civilian in 1993.
The commission's scathing final report, titled "Dishonored Legacy," asserted that poor leadership was rampant throughout the military's officer corps. It said the army's 1992-93 mission to Somalia went awry from the start.
In June, two Belgian peacekeepers accused of torturing a Somali boy in 1993 by stretching him over an open fire were acquitted by a Belgian military court. The court found that privates Claude Baert and Kurt Coelus did not torture the boy but were in fact engaging in a playful game meant to discourage him from stealing.