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.

When questioned about the evidence of ongoing sexual exploitation of Congolese civilians by U.N. personnel, Swing told ABC News: "If it's going on now, [the policy] is being violated." He then pledged, "We are not at a 100 percent compliance with zero tolerance, but we will get there."

Swing conceded there have been widespread allegations of sexual misconduct by his personnel, and that the credibility of the U.N. mission in Congo has been badly damaged as a result. A Congolese newspaper recently denounced Swing's leadership, asking, "How can one understand the passivity of William Swing in tolerating the sexual exploitation by U.N. troops?" In response, Swing told ABC News, "Did I do enough? No. Do I need to do more? Yes."

But Annan seems to have decided Swing would not have another opportunity to address the sexual exploitation problem. Swing's decision to resign or retire is expected to be accepted Friday at U.N. headquarters.

The allegations have marred the efforts of 18,000 U.N. peacekeeping soldiers who have tried to enforce the terms of a cease-fire among multiple political and armed factions in a civil war that has claimed more than 3 million lives. Last week, nine U.N. soldiers from Bangladesh were killed in an ambush outside Bunia, Congo, by militiamen in the fourth-deadliest attack on U.N. troops in Africa.

ABC News' David Scott and Rhonda Schwarz contributed to this report.