This is a crime of the most heinous nature and must be both stopped/prosecuted AND cleaned up IMMEDIATELY!!! This has been going on for nearly two DECADES!
'Toxic waste' behind Somali piracy By Najad Abdullahi
Some pirates operating off Somalia's coast claim to act as coastguards.
Somali pirates have accused European firms of dumping toxic waste off the Somali coast and are demanding an $8m ransom for the return of a Ukranian ship they captured, saying the money will go towards cleaning up the waste.
The ransom demand is a means of "reacting to the toxic waste that has been continually dumped on the shores of our country for nearly 20 years", Januna Ali Jama, a spokesman for the pirates, based in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, said.
"The Somali coastline has been destroyed, and we believe this money is nothing compared to the devastation that we have seen on the seas."
The pirates are holding the MV Faina, a Ukrainian ship carrying tanks and military hardware, off Somalia's northern coast.
According to the International Maritime Bureau, 61 attacks by pirates have been reported since the start of the year.
While money is the primary objective of the hijackings, claims of the continued environmental destruction off Somalia's coast have been largely ignored by the regions's maritime authorities.
..cont'd
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2008/10/2008109174223218644.html-------
Nairobi
23 February 2005
A United Nations' report released this week says nuclear and hazardous wastes dumped on Somalia's shores had been scattered by the recent Asian tsunami and are now infecting Somalis in coastal areas.
A spokesman for the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Nick Nuttall, told VOA that for the past 15 years or so, European companies and others have used Somalia as a dumping ground for a wide array of nuclear and hazardous wastes.
"There's uranium radioactive waste, there's leads, there's heavy metals like cadmium and mercury, there's industrial wastes, and there's hospital wastes, chemical wastes, you name it,” he said. “It's not rocket science to know why they're doing it because of the instability there."
Mr. Nuttall said, on average, it cost European companies $2.50 per ton to dump the wastes on Somalia's beaches rather than $250 a ton to dispose of the wastes in Europe.
He said the Asian tsunami dislodged and smashed open the drums, barrels, and other containers, spreading the contaminants as far away as 10 or more kilometers inland.
Mr. Nuttall said it is impossible to know the exact tonnage or number of containers of wastes on Somalia's shores, but that the problem, in his words, "is very serious."
The results of the contamination on coastal populations, Mr. Nuttall says, have been disastrous.
cont'd
http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2005-02/2005-02-23-voa23.cfm----
From August of
1999!!!
Release - SW/AAJ 25/99, 29 Aug 1999
Nuclear Waste Dumped on Somali Waters
There are reports of Nuclear Waste Dumping activities on Somali Waters (attach). This is yet another episode of the sad maritime situation in Somalia Waters. Lately, the illegal maritime activities have been on the rise, and there have been many cases of dead marine animals washing off at the coasts of Somalia, especially on the Indian Ocean side.
The General-Secretary of the UN suggested in Para 71 of his report - Report of the Secretary-General of the United Nations on the situation in Somalia- dated 16 Aug 1999 - that;
quote, " ....action could be taken by the international community to assist Somalia to recover its sovereignty in certain limited fields, for example the protection of offshore natural resources. Efforts could also be made to limit the introduction of illegal arms and weapons into the country...." , unquote
Somalia Watch Organization (SW) also made several news releases on the subject matter and can be read in our home page www.somaliawatch.org.
SW hopes that the security council and the international community will address this tragic situation by helping Somalia recover its sovereignty as a nation along the guidelines recommended by the General Secretary so that the nuclear and other toxic waste dumping in Somalia can be stopped...cont'd
http://www.somaliawatch.org/archive/990829501.htm-----
Somali Waste Imports
1. The Issue
During the Somali civil war hazardous waste was dumped in this
African nation by industrialized countries. The alleged
perpetrators were Italian and Swiss firms who supposedly entered
into a contract with the Somali government to dump waste in the war
ravaged African nation. The issue of dumping in Somalia is two
fold in that it is both a legal question and a moral question.
First, is there a violation of international treaties in the
export of hazardous waste to Somalia. Second, is it ethically
questionable to negotiate a hazardous waste disposal contract with
a country in the midst of a protracted civil war and with a
government that can best be described as tenuous and factionalized?
2. Description
With the abdication of President Siad Barre in 1989, the
country of Somalia was thrown in a state of anarchy. The country
is currently ruled by a series of warlords each holding a small
section of the country. The rival factions have been at war with
each other since the mid-eighties and a mission by the United
Nations to stabilize the country has now ended in apparent
political failure. The war led to a serious famine that was solved
by the intervention. Less publicized was the exploitation of the
Somalian crisis by firms who specialize in the disposal of
hazardous waste.
In the fall of 1992 reports began to appear in the
international media concerning unnamed European firms that were
illegally dumping waste in Somalia. By most reports, several
thousand tons of waste, mostly processed industrial waste, had
already been dumped there. It was also reported that waste was
seen being dumped off the Somali coast into the Indian Ocean. To
further compound the country's environmental problems, a storage
facility in northern Somalia filled with pesticides had been
destroyed during the war. The spilt chemicals and resulting fire
poisoned one of the few sources of drinking water in the famine
ravaged country.
What caused controversy in 1992, however, was reports of a
contract established between a Swiss firm, Achair Partners, and an
Italian firm, Progresso, with Nur Elmy Osman, who claimed to be the
Somali Minister of Health under an interim government headed by Ali
Mahdi Muhammad. Osman had been a health official in the Barre
government, but allegedly was no longer recognized as a government
official by Ali Mahdi. Osman had supposedly entered into an $80
million contract in December of 1991, whereby the two firms would
be allowed to build a 10 million ton storage facility for hazardous
waste. The waste would first be burned in an incinerator to be
built on the same site and then stored in the facility at the rate
of 500,000 tons a year.
Reports of the alleged contract outraged the world community.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) investigated the
matter at the urging of Somalia's neighbors and the Swiss and
Italian governments. What ensued was a period of accusations as
both firms denied entering into any agreement, Osman denied signing
any contract and the Swiss and Italian governments said they had no
knowledge of the two firms activities.
As a result of the UNEP's investigation, the contract was
declared null and the facility was never built. Still it became
apparent to the UNEP's director Dr. Mustafa Tolba that the firms of
Achair Partners and Progresso were set up specifically as
fictitious companies by larger industrial firms to dispose of
hazardous waste. At one point Dr. Tolba declared that the UNEP was
dealing with a mafia...cont'd
http://www.american.edu/TED/somalia.htm
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