Toxic waste: Officials blamed

2006-11-23 20:12

Abidjan - A chain of administrative failures and negligence in Ivory Coast led to the dumping of toxic waste in the economic capital Abidjan, which killed 10 people and made thousands ill, said a government inquiry.

Poisonous chemical slops unloaded from a tanker chartered by Dutch-based oil trader Trafigura in August were dumped at 17 mostly open-air sites around Abidjan, causing vomiting, diarrhoea, nosebleeds and nausea among its residents.

Fatou Diakite, head of a national inquiry commission appointed by prime minister Charles Konan Banny, said negligence by the port and customs authorities, city administrators and government ministries enabled the disaster to happen.

"Problems linked to lack of rigorous management, failure to observe professional ethics and non-application of regulations ... favoured the entry and dumping of toxic waste in the District of Abidjan," Diakite said in extracts of the report published on Thursday by state media.

'The main actor'

The government resigned at the height of the scanda, but a mostly-unchanged cabinet was appointed 10 days later.

Abidjan's port director, the customs chief and the head of the District of Abidjan have been suspended pending investigations.

The report singled out as "the main actor" in the scandal Salomon Ugborugbo, the Nigerian manager of the Tommy company, which was contracted by Trafigura to dispose of the waste.

The waste disposal company was set up just before the Probo Koala tanker docked in Abidjan.

The inquiry said Tommy was not equipped to treat the waste and said its ability to obtain permits to operate from the transport ministry and port pointed to "fraudulent collusion".

Ugborugbo and two French directors of Trafigura are detained in Abidjan and face charges under Ivory Coast's poisoning and toxic waste laws.

They are among 18 people to have been arrested in a separate judicial investigation into the affair.

Played determining role

Premier Banny previously told Reuters everything led him to believe Tommy was set up with the sole aim of ridding the Probo Koala of its poisonous load.

The report said Trafigura had violated the Basel convention, which outlaws the shipping of toxic substances to developing countries and said its subsidiary, Puma Energy, which stocks oil products in Abidjan, played a "determining role" in the dumping.

Trafigura denies any wrongdoing or responsibility for the dumping and has called for the two directors to be released.

Pierre Djedji Amondji, head of the Abidjan District administration, was also slammed by the inquiry for his slow reaction and "surprising indifference" to the tragedy, which triggered panic in the densely-populated city.