[JURIST] Moroccan officials announced Sunday that six Moroccan peacekeepers currently serving with the UN force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been arrested on charges of sex abuse. The chief of Moroccan peacekeepers in the DRC and his assistant were also relieved of command. The arrests mark the first official charges brought against UN peacekeepers in the light of evidence that UN personnel engaged in sexual abuse, including sex with minors, in the DRC. The UN Mission to the Congo [official website] immediately praised the Moroccan government [official website] for its action and stated that it hoped the arrests would serve as an example to the other nations contributing forces to the peacekeeping mission. The arrests follow last Friday's announcement by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that a 'zero-tolerance' policy [JURIST report] was now in place concerning any sex between UN peacekeepers and the Congo population. JURIST's Paper Chase has background on the Congo sex abuse scandal. Reuters has more.