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A toxic trail of pollution and profiteering

Vaiju Naravane

The recent dumping of toxic wastes around the Ivory Coast city of Abidjan by a Greek-owned ship is another example of how developing countries are exploited by greedy and unscrupulous business interests.

A MONTH ago, a Panamanian-registered vessel dumped over 500 tonnes of liquid toxic wastes into 14 open-air rubbish tips around Abidjan, in the Ivory Coast, and into the surrounding sea. Today, seven persons are dead, 25 remain hospitalised in a serious state while 26,000 others have consulted doctors with symptoms of poisoning.

The already shaky Government of Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny was forced out of office as a result of the scandal. But predictably, President Laurent Gbagbo has asked him to name a new Cabinet. So great is the ire of the population that residents forced the country's Transport Minister out of his car, roughed him up, and made him inhale toxic fumes from a nearby waste dump in central Abidjan. Three high-level officials have been fired and a clean-up contract has been awarded to a French firm that is to start waste removal on Sunday.

The irony of it is that not so long ago Ivory Coast was held up as an example of a well-run, efficient, economically successful African state. Today this once flourishing nation has been brought to its knees by a devastating civil war and near-total political irresponsibility. Rife with corruption, Ivory Coast's economy has been practically handed over to mafia bosses and carpetbaggers of every stripe while rival factions fight over the country's resources.

In the latest twist to the tragedy of the Ivorian people, President Gbagbo has broken off peace negotiations with the United Nations for elections that were scheduled for October. It is unlikely that the country will emerge from its current crisis marked by violence and political stalemate anytime soon.

It is not surprising therefore that unscrupulous profiteers managed to bring in highly toxic waste in contravention of all international treaties (especially the Basel Treaty on the export of toxic waste) with callous disregard to human life. Nor is it surprising that the waste was dispatched or rather sold to the Ivory Coast by a European company. For all its talk of respect for the environment, Europe has often been guilty of breaking the very laws it helped frame.

The exact nature of the waste is still not known although experts sent in by the French and Swiss Governments say it is a mixture of oil residue and caustic soda used to flush out the tanks of the Probo Koala, a Greek-owned cargo ship flying the Panamanian flag. The fumes from the highly toxic waste have caused nausea, skin rashes, fainting, diarrhoea, and headaches. And it is now feared that the poison may have contaminated the country's water and entered the food chain.

Deadly cargo

The toxic waste was dumped by the Probo Koala that loaded its deadly cargo in Amsterdam. The Ivorian Justice Ministry or what is left of it (the transitional government resigned as a result of the scandal and a new government is to be sworn in) is vainly trying to cut through the web of secrecy surrounding the affair in an attempt to find the guilty. Seven persons have been arrested, three of them from companies working closely with the Abidjan port authority. These include Puma Energy which hired the Probo Koala, and which specialises in handling toxic waste, a director of Tommy, the company that supervised the dumping of the waste, as well as an employee of an intermediary company called Waibs.

The sequence of events is still unclear but agency reports indicate that the Probo Koala contacted Puma Energy to inform them of its intention to get rid of its slops, the filth that is flushed out when a ship's tanks are cleaned. Made up of petroleum residue mixed with caustic soda, these highly toxic wastes require treatment before disposal. Puma Energy in turn contacted Tommy through the good offices of Waibs. Tommy received its licence to dispose of toxic waste as recently as July 12.

Enter a multinational company dealing in petroleum and metals, Trafigura and the picture muddies. According to officials of the company, the toxic substances are not part of the Probo Koala's cargo which was crude oil, but were the ship's slops mixed with other hydrocarbons? The discharge of such slops into the sea is strictly prohibited by Marpol, the international convention on maritime pollution, which stipulates that such wastes have to be pumped out, stocked and treated in properly equipped waste treatment plants.

Is it possible that a banal mixture of petroleum residue and caustic soda habitually used by petrol tankers can have such terrible consequences? French experts sent to Abidjan say the waste contained "unusually toxic molecules" including hydrogen sulphide, a colourless gas that reeks of rotten eggs and causes cyanide-like poisoning. With such terribly toxic elements present who authorised the waste to be classified as normal ship's slops?

The Probo Koala was supposed to empty its tanks and treat the wastes in Amsterdam. But port authorities say the stuff stank so much that the residue was analysed. It was found to contain "unusual elements" which meant it would have to be sent to Rotterdam for treatment. That would have cost Trasfigura $35,000 a day as demurrage with additional penalties of $250,000 for delays. The decision was probably not difficult to take. The ship was packed off with fresh cargo and minus a cleanout. It deposited its cargo of crude in Nigeria and then went straight to Abidjan.

The ecological association Robin des bois (Robin Hood) described what happened as "nothing short of brigandage." Experts say it is both "necessary and urgent" to remove the toxic wastes for treatment. Many of the rubbish tips are located close to market gardens and the wastes could already have entered the food chain. An experts' report was submitted to the Prime Minister on September 12 but he is not due to make it public until the weekend.

At that point — a month after the 500-plus tonnes of waste were dumped into 14 open-air rubbish tips in the city — Mr. Banny is expected to announce "drastic" measures to protect the population. Those measures, expected to focus on ensuring vegetables and fish are fit for human consumption, may already be too late.

The Dutch-based multinational trading company Trafigura, which operates the Probo Koala, insisted on September 12 that it had handed the waste over to Ivorian firm Tommy to dispose of correctly. But it now appears that the waste was not ship's slops but much more dangerous material.

This is just one more example of how developing countries are used as dumping grounds by greedy and unscrupulous business interests who flagrantly ignore international regulations with or without the connivance of their governments. This is also a grim reminder of the fact that without local support from corrupt officials prepared to turn a blind eye to such violations in exchange for a handful of dollars, such acts would be difficult to carry out.

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