Second U.N. Official Expected to Depart

March 3, 2005 — -- A second senior U.N. official is expected to depart following an ABC News "20/20" investigation of sexual misconduct by U.N. employees. William Swing, the head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is expected to offer his resignation or announce his retirement to Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York on Friday, according to U.N. and U.S. State Department sources.

Two weeks ago, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, a former Dutch prime minister, resigned after an ABC News report revealed an internal U.N. investigation corroborated allegations of sexual harassment brought by women who worked for or with Lubbers. The report concluded that Lubbers lacked "the requisite integrity."

Swing, a retired U.S. diplomat, is not accused of any personal misconduct. His expected departure follows an ABC News report about hundreds of allegations that U.N. peacekeeping soldiers under his command in Congo had raped Congolese women and girls, ran prostitution and pedophile rings, and actively consorted with prostitutes in direct violation of the U.N. Code of Conduct, which strictly prohibits such activity.

"He was asked to stay on and institute a crackdown," a U.N. official told ABC News. "But he said he was not the kind of person who could do that. He's too much of a gentleman."

Swing was summoned to New York this week to respond to the ABC News report, which featured video of senior U.N. officials loading prostitutes into U.N. vehicles outside a nightclub in the Congolese city of Goma. He was traveling today and could not be reached for comment.

The United Nations says it enforces a "zero tolerance" policy for sexual misconduct, including prostitution. The "20/20" program also exposed for the first time photographs of young Congolese girls performing sex acts with a senior U.N. official named Didier Bourguet. The photos were taken from the hard drive of his computer. Bourguet is now facing rape, pornography and pedophilia charges in France.