I Coast's entire cabinet quits

2006-09-07 09:11

Serme Lassina

Yamoussoukro - President Laurent Gbagbo accepted the resignation of his entire cabinet on Wednesday amid growing anger over a deadly wave of toxic fumes wafting across Ivory Coast's main city of Abidjan, said reports.

Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny, head of a postwar national-unity government, offered his cabinet's resignation and Gbagbo accepted after the death of three children was attributed to residue from a gasoline shipment apparently dumped around residential areas in Abidjan, said reports.

A new 32-member cabinet was expected to be formed in days and Banny's job was not affected. The national-unity cabinet included top rebel leaders from Ivory Coast's 2002-2003 civil war, Gbagbo loyalists and opposition politicians.

Abidjan residents began complaining of a smell of rotten eggs in recent weeks and a Dutch commodities' company said a local contractor might have improperly disposed of a byproduct from a fuel shipment sent to the West African nation.

Three children died

According to an Ivorian government health report, among the chemicals in the residue was hydrogen sulfide, which in concentrated doses could kill humans, but after diffused gave off the odor of matches or rotten eggs.

It was reported that three children died after exposure and said a French clean-up team was expected to arrive in the coming days to help deal with the crisis.

On Tuesday, hundreds of residents took to the streets to complain about the stench, turning away vehicles and waving placards asking the government to act to clean up their areas.

The gasoline importer, Netherlands-based Trafigura Beheer BV, said it had hired a local company to dispose of the fuel residue.

The company said: "Trafigura Beheer BV is very concerned at reports that the residue of the gasoline cargo ... has been disposed of inappropriately in Abidjan." Company officials denied requests for further comment.

Health officials said many people had gone to hospitals with complaints ranging from eye irritation to nausea.

Others were seeking information after rumours spread that the disposed material was radioactive.

Ivory Coast, still split between rebel and government-controlled areas since the civil war, was the world's largest cocoa producer.

- AP