Abidjan Toxic Waste Case Moves to London

[No Smoking]

The trouble with having mugus as "leaders"...

London's High Court will on Wednesday hear allegations of dirty tricks in the biggest class action ever brought before the British courts.

It arises from the dumping of toxic waste three years ago in Ivory Coast's largest city, Abidjan.

In the aftermath, up to 100,000 people fell sick and 16 died.

The waste belonged to a multi-national oil trading company, Trafigura. In the wake of the incident, 30,000 Abidjanis are suing them for damages.
.................

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8046830.stm

That is only one side of the story. Here goes:



http://www.gmanews.tv/story/30712/Du...xic-waste-case

Dutch Trafigura settles Ivory Coast toxic waste case
02/15/2007 | 03:52 PM


AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - A Dutch-based oil trading company paid $197 million to secure the release of three executives from an Ivory Coast prison and settle claims that it dumped toxic waste that killed at least 10 people in the West African nation.

The three executives from Trafigura Beheer BV were released Wednesday, a spokesman for the firm told The Associated Press.

Trafigura, accused of illegally dumping the waste in the Ivory Coast port city of Abidjan, has denied wrongdoing, saying it properly contracted with a local company to dispose of the waste. It said the material it offloaded from the ship, the Probo Koala, in August 2006 was not toxic.

A Dutch company initially had agreed to dispose of the waste for $15,500, but when it raised the price to $650,000, Trafigura refused to pay, and the Probo Koala left. The ship traveled on to Estonia where it turned down an offer to dispose of the waste for $260,000.

Trafigura then looked to Africa, where it found a local company in Ivory Coast called Tommy that agreed to dispose of the waste for roughly the original price. Trafigura said Tommy had proper government papers for the disposal.

Trafigura, accused of illegally dumping the waste in the Ivory Coast port city of Abidjan, has denied wrongdoing, saying it properly contracted with a local company to dispose of the waste. It said the material it offloaded from the ship, the Probo Koala, in August 2006 was not toxic.

A UN report, however, found that the material contained chemicals lethal in high concentrations.

For the original price of $15,000? Only illiterate Africans would accept to dispose 'toxic' waste for a meagre sum of $15,000, without questions asked. So at what price did the Ivorian company, accept from Trafigura to kill the citizens of Ivory Coast?

Apparently, this case is still on from 2007. Why did the company in Ivory Coast agree to dispose of the waste from a foreign country in the first place?

Africa continue to be a dumping ground for unscrupulous oil executives. We have no one to blame but ourselves.

[superego]

We AND THEY are to blame!

WE are to be blamed more than THEY.

We should not be endangering our citizens in Africa as a whole for a few bucks. I am shocked that a company in Ivory Coast decided to do this 'dirty' business for a price no other foreign country would have accepted.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8046830.stm




I hope it was worth it.

[No Smoking]

Trafigura then looked to Africa, where it found a local company in Ivory Coast called Tommy that agreed to dispose of the waste for roughly the original price. Trafigura said Tommy had proper government papers for the disposal.

proper government papers, eh..

Originally Posted by No Smoking

proper government papers, eh..

Of course. Cooked up by the Ivorian pseudo government while the real one was taking a nap.

http://ca.geocities.com/earth_stewards/Africa.html



Experts cleaning up toxic waste in the village of Akuedo in Ivory Coast on Monday. The waste has led to several deaths and dozens of illnesses in the country.



The waste is in the sea and in city waterways near the market area. These women are protecting themselves from the noxious fumes given off by the sludge.



Many residents have been forced to go to the hospital for treatment. The hospital in Cocody, a downtown neighborhood in this city of 4 million, is in a state of high alert. Women stand waiting in the hallways, pressing paper masks tightly against their noses and mouths. Masks are currently a hot commodity in the Ivory Coast, where street dealers sell them for 20 West African centimes apiece.



France has been providing technical assistance to the Ivorians in cleaning up the waste. Here, French minister Brigitte Girardin stands before a tanker truck seized as part of the investigation.

A little over a month ago, a fleet of tanker trucks loaded with a toxic brew of cleaning chemicals and gasoline and crude oil sludge was dispatched into the streets of Abidjan. Under cover of night, the drivers secretly dumped their loads in 14 locations around the city -- near vegetable fields, fisheries and water reservoirs. All told, the cargo amounted to 528 cubic meters (18,857 cubic feet) of toxic waste that had reached the West African coast on board an oil and cargo freighter.


Now many residential neighborhoods adjoining the dumpsites are all but deserted. When news broke of the first casualties, thousands packed their belongings onto donkey carts and buses and moved to the nearby forests -- from which many had only recently fled to escape the violence of the country's civil war. Angry demonstrators poured through Abidjan's streets. The transportation minister, who had resigned over the scandal, was seriously beaten in broad daylight. The toxic sludge has already claimed the lives of seven people, four of them children, and more than 9,000 have fallen ill, according to official figures. And although the vapors are gradually becoming less toxic, this is no reason for optimism. The disaster has crippled the city's garbage collection, prompting fears in the medical community of epidemic disease.

All for $15,000 or less. Yeah, lets blame colonialism. This is shameful.

[No Smoking]

If I heard it correctly, some Tommy officials have been sentenced to long jailterms for the dumping.

What is the Ivorien govt doing with the court awards granted against the dumpers? France is on the ground, helping. Greenpeace is chasing the European company through the courts and mounting general publicity.

Let us hope that no other dopey African "leader" will betray his people by accepting toxic waste cargoes...

I guess Superego does not have much to write concerning this issue, since Africans do not need reparations from Africans.lol

[No Smoking]

Some notable progress here...

Trafigura offers deal to 31,000 Africans over dumped waste

A British oil trader has offered to settle a court case brought by 31,000 Africans who say that they were injured by the dumping of waste — the largest personal injuries class action mounted in an English court.

The company, Trafigura, confirmed yesterday that “a global settlement is being considered by the parties”.

A settlement, which would be without any admission of liability on the part of the company, would avoid a lengthy, costly and highly embarrassing court action that was due to begin at the High Court in London next month.

The claimants’ lawyer, Martyn Day, of Leigh Day & Co, confirmed that the two sides were in talks. “We have reached a point where we are now in the process of putting a global deal to the claimants,” he said, adding that the sum being discussed was based on the range of short-term symptoms claimed by his clients.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6837795.ece

[RAYNOSA]

I have always said it that the west see Africa as a place were they can source for resources (Human and Material) and as place to dump their waste.
Yet these are the same people preaching fair trade and climate change.

[No Smoking]

Fair trade is sponsored by a minority in the West to assist producers in the developing world. A welcome development.

Climate change: Concerns ALL earth-dwellers, since there'll be no hiding place when the havocs created by earth-abuse are unleashed. The West is only coordinating the drive to halt the slide.

Africa as a source of human resources: We're at the stage now where we export ourselves at great risks to escape from the horrible conditions on the African continent, created by our clueless and selfish leaders. The West is not exactly welcoming most of us with open hands and gladness of heart, because we're more of a liability than credit to their economy.

Africa as a dumpsite: As we see from the example of this thread, African leaders in business and govt collude with the depraved Western dealers to make this possible.