Nairobi — The United Nations is about to receive yet another body-blow with the impending resignation of an envoy over a sex scandal in the Congo.

Mr William Lacy Swing, the UN representative in the Congo, is expected to announce his resignation for failing to rein in sex pests who bribed children as young as 12 with food in exchange for sex. Some of the girls are reported to have been gang-raped.

This will further dent the UN's rating internationally, and erode public trust. About 11,000 of the UN's 60,000 soldiers are deployed in the Congo, making it the largest UN force in the world. Undoubtedly, some of the soldiers are committed to their work, and many have been killed in the line of duty.

But there are others giving the UN a bad name; people who require punishment commensurate with their grave crimes. The Congo has not known peace for many years, and the UN presence there was supposed to restore hope to a desperate people.

That the UN personnel stand accused of taking advantage of children who needed food and security reveals the depths into which the UN has sunk, and the gigantic task ahead if it is to redeem its image. The resignation of Mr Swing, therefore, is only the first step. The soldiers implicated in the scandal must be investigated, and if found guilty, be made to face the full force of the law.

The UN should re-examine its criteria for recruiting soldiers to its peacekeeping missions in the first place, the training these soldiers get, and their all-round suitability as peacekeepers.

The greatest criticism that the world body faces today is the immoral opulence displayed by its staff in a sea of strife and poverty. Some of the staff have doubtful qualification and scant knowledge of local culture.

In the same breath, the world body should be applauded for exposing the rot within its system, for self-criticism is the first step towards self-improvement.