UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations has launched investigations into about 150 allegations of sexual abuse by its civilian and military peacekeeping personnel in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which are supported by photographic and video evidence, a senior UN official said here Monday.

    The allegations, including rape, solicitation of prostitution and having sex with minors, came to light this spring, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jane Holl Lute told reporters.

    Many of the alleged cases took place in Bunia, a city in the eastern DRC, and the UN's own watchdog, the Office for Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), has sent a team to the region to verifythem, she said.

    Meanwhile, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations has dispatched officials to the vast West African nation to explore ways of preventing such misconduct in the future, she added.

    Lute confirmed that three civilian staff of the UN peacekeepingmission in the DRC, known as MONUC, were suspended on suspicion of sexual abuse. But she refused to give details on any specific caseor even the number of suspects.

    So far, at least three suspects were repatriated to face charges at home, one French soldier for child molestation and two Tunisian soldiers for sexual abuse against women in the DRC capital of Kinshasa.

    The United Nations only has jurisdiction over its civilian staff but peacekeeping soldiers and police are subject to the jurisdictions of their own countries.

    MONUC was established five years ago to help monitor a ceasefire agreement in the country. It currently has 10,800 troopsand police and about 1,000 international civilian staff.

    Lute said the world body has started a review of its other 15 peacekeeping operations around the world to determine the scope ofthe problem relating to sexual abuse.

    On Friday, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan described such misconduct as "gross" and "shameful" and said he was "absolutely outraged by it."

    Vowing to hold those involved "fully accountable," he said, "We cannot rest until we have rooted out all such practices from MONUC,from any other peacekeeping operations, and indeed anywhere in the organization that they might occur."

    Last July, Annan appointed Jordan's Ambassador to the UN Prince Zeid Ra'ad Al-Hussein, a former UN peacekeeper, to act as his adviser on the matter. Enditem