United Nations, August 13 (RHC)-- UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has sacked the head of the UN mission in the Central African Republic (CAR) after another sexual abuse scandal hit the world body's peacekeeping forces in the African country.

Ban said on Wednesday that he has asked Babacar Gaye to step aside, and that the Senegalese diplomat, who heads the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), has "tendered his resignation."

The move came after Amnesty International accused a UN peacekeeper of raping a 12-year-old girl. The UN forces also shot dead a teenager and his father during a recent operation to arrest a former rebel leader in the capital, Bangui, according to the UK-based rights body.

The offensive on August 2 and 3 also led to the killing of a Cameroonian peacekeeper and four other people. Similar claims of child abuse were previously made against other members of the UN mission to CAR.

"When the United Nations deploys peacekeepers, we do so to protect the world's most vulnerable people in the world's people who replace trust with fear."

There are also allegations of sex abuse against French troops, with reports saying they sexually abused children in the Central African Republic in exchange for food. Paris says it is investigating the claims.