UN staff probed for dancing with rebels

BOGOTA: The United Nations is investigating more observers for taking part in a New Year's Eve party at which leftist FARC rebels were present, a UN source said on Saturday.
The news came just two days after four members of the UN monitoring mission for the Colombian peace process were sacked for dancing with FARC rebels at a New Year's Eve party.
It was not immediately clear how many people were involved in previously unseen footage now being investigated, and images on social media apparently of a similar nature, the UN source said.
"It is under investigation. And the UN mission in Colombia will take whatever steps may be necessary. We are totally committed to being impartial," the source said.
UN monitors are overseeing the FARC's disarmament as part of a peace deal the guerillas signed with the government to end a more than five-decade conflict.
But controversy erupted on Thursday when Colombian media broadcast videos of UN monitors, dressed in their pale blue uniform vests, swaying to tropical beats with FARC fighters in their arms at a camp in northern Colombia where the rebels were gathering before laying down their weapons.
The UN said that after investigating the incident, it had decided to "separate" three monitors and their supervisor from its mission.
It said their behaviour was "inappropriate" and "does not reflect the mission's values of professionalism and impartiality". — AFP