MP forced to inhale toxic fumes
2006-09-15 13:44
Abidjan - Angry residents of a suburb in Ivory Coast's capital on Friday attacked the country's transport minister, pulling him out of his car and forcing him to inhale toxic fumes from waste dumped there nearly a month ago, said witnesses.
The minister, Innocent Anaky Kobeman, was driving through Akouedo district, one of the several affected suburbs, when he was stopped by a group of residents protesting the continued presence of the toxic waste in their neighbourhood.
One witness said that the protestors pulled him out of his car, roughed him up and led him to a site, where the toxic waste was dumped "so that he could also inhale the fumes".
Residents said the minister's car was burnt.
Akouedo residents took to the streets on Friday to express their discontent after smelling afresh a strong odor coming out of the waste dumped in their suburb at end of August by an Ivorian firm.
26 000 medical consulations recorded
The death toll from the waste poisoning had risen to seven as thousands of residents continued to flood medical clinics fearing they had been poisoned.
The health ministry announced on Thursday that 26 000 medical consulations were recorded across the city after the 500-plus tons of waste were dumped on 14 open-air rubbish tips around the city.
Prime Minister Konan Banny, presiding over a skeletal government after his cabinet stepped down over the scandal last week, said on Thursday evening that a clean-up operation led by French firm, Seche, would begin on Sunday.
Seven people, including the heads of local waste disposal firm Tommy and two other Ivorian companies, had been arrested.
Tommy was blamed for dumping the sludge - which had caused nausea, rashes, fainting, diarrhoea and headaches - onto ordinary Abidjan rubbish tips in August.
Dutch-based multinational trading company, Trafigura, which operated the Probo Koala cargo ship, which unloaded the industrial waste residue, insisted that it acted lawfully having handed the waste over to Tommy to dispose of correctly.