Ivory Coast toxic dump 'still claiming lives'

Christophe Koffi Yahoo News 19 Sep 09;

AKOUEDO, Ivory Coast (AFP) – Three years after a ship dumped toxic waste in Ivory Coast, residents of a village off the main city of Abidjan are still traumatised by untimely deaths they say are linked to poisoning.

"We are living on borrowed time," said Bienvenue Danho, who is in charge of waste disposal at Akouedo, northeast of Abidjan, about the 2006 spill that caused 15 deaths and countless infections, according to a UN expert.

"There are unexplained deaths even today," said Blaise Adja, the head of a local youth association.

Over 100,000 people have sought medical help for problems including vomiting, diarrhoea and breathing difficulties.

"Three years after the scandal, we are only witnessing the short-term effects," Adja, a high school teacher, said, evoking the case of a 40-year-old man who had worked to clear up the waste and died this week of a throat tumour.

"Who will be the next one?" added Jean Fortune Tope, echoing a common worry.

In August 2006, the Probo Koala ship, chartered by Dutch firm Trafigura, dumped deadly caustic soda and petroleum residues on city waste tips in Abidjan -- having first attempted to offload the cargo in Amsterdam.

Trafigura, an oil trading firm, has already paid a one hundred billion CFA francs (152 million euros) in damages to the victims of the toxic poisoning in an out-of-court deal with the Ivory Coast government which exempts it from legal proceedings in the west African nation.

It also cleaned up the waste and agreed to build a waste incinerator to tackle Abidjan's pollution problem.

However, a UN expert this week said there was "strong" evidence linking at least 15 deaths and several hospitalisations to the incident.

"Indeed, there is a strong basis to conclude that the deaths and illnesses were directly and indirectly linked to the dumping waste," said Okechukwu Ibeanu.

"Residents in areas close to the dumping sites were directly exposed to the waste through skin contact and breathing of the volatile substances," he said.

A lawyer for victims taking legal action in Britain, where Trafigura has offices, had said on Wednesday that the company had offered a global settlement which "is likely to be acceptable to most, if not all, of the claimants."

The company will pay thousands of people who suffered short-term illnesses including vomiting, diarrhoea and breathing difficulties. The compensation will run to millions of pounds (dollars), reports said.

The Dutch multinational firm had reiterated that it was not responsible for deaths or serious injuries from the dumping, and has not admitted liability.

Court proceedings are ongoing in the Netherlands, with hearings scheduled for 2010.

Environmental group Greenpeace has asked a Dutch judge to order prosecutors to broaden the probe beyond the Netherlands. A decision should be taken within two months.

The possibility of a new compensation deal is however dismissed by most in Akouedo, with locals saying victims had only received a fourth of the compensation Trafigura paid the government.

Many allege that their names do not figure in the list of victims.

"It was a bargain," snorted Jean Fortune Tope.

"The state rushed through this urgent matter without thinking of the future," added David Gouedan.

Locals complain that they have not seen any of 500 million CFA francs allocated by the government for social projects in the village, where there is a giant dumping ground spanning scores of acres.

Meanwhile, a stench hangs over the area even now and "becomes stronger during the monsoon," complained Agnes Koutouan, casting a worried glance at a gutter filled with slimy green water and emanating a nauseous odour.

Trafigura settles over Ivory Coast toxic waste claims
Yahoo News 20 Sep 09;

LONDON (AFP) – Oil-trading company Trafigura has agreed to pay 30 million pounds to victims of toxic waste dumped in Ivory Coast in an out-of-court settlement, a spokesman for the firm said Sunday.

The agreement with British lawyers Leigh Day and Company, who represent 31,000 claimants in Abidjan, accepts however that there is no link between exposure to the waste and any deaths or miscarriages, as was alleged.

"The agreement was signed late on Saturday night," a spokesman for Trafigura told AFP on Sunday, confirming the deal was worth 30 million pounds (33 million euros, 49 million dollars).

Each victim will get 750,000 francs CFA (1,150 euros, 1,700 dollars), the spokesman added. They originally asked for a total of 180 million pounds.

In August 2006, the Probo Koala ship, chartered by Trafigura, dumped caustic soda and petroleum residues on city waste tips in Abidjan -- having first attempted to offload the cargo in Amsterdam.

Ivory Coast has said the dumping killed 17 people and caused more than 100,000 to seek medical help, while a report by a UN expert last week found "strong" evidence linking the waste to 15 deaths and several hospitalisations.

Trafigura has always disputed this, however, and its position was upheld in the out-of-court settlement.

In a joint statement issued late Saturday, Leigh Day and Trafigura said that more than 20 independent experts had been brought in to examine the case.

"These independent experts are unable to identify a link between exposure to the chemicals released from the slops and deaths, miscarriages, still births, birth defects, loss of visual acuity or other serious and chronic injuries," it said.

"Leigh Day and Co, in the light of the expert evidence, now acknowledge that the slops could at worst have caused a range of short-term, low-level flu-like symptoms and anxiety."

Trafigura director Eric de Turckheim said the settlement "completely vindicates Trafigura".

"Over the past three years, the company has been the target of numerous attacks which have wrongly asserted that Trafigura?s actions led to deaths and serious injuries," he said.

"These accusations have now been found to be baseless."

He added: "While we certainly do not accept legal liability, Trafigura regrets the Probo Koala incident and in particular the distress that it caused the local population."

However, Denis Yao Pipira, president of the national federation of toxic waste victims in Ivory Coast, said last week that the settlement was an "admission of guilt" which would bring "moral comfort to the victims."

At least 75 percent of the claimants gave their backing for the compensation agreement, Trafigura said, the legal minimum for such an out-of-court settlement to be reached.

Trafigura has already paid one hundred billion CFA francs (152 million euros) in damages to the victims in an out-of-court deal with the Ivory Coast government, which exempted it from legal proceedings in that country.

Saturday's agreement came a fortnight before the dispute was due to go to court in London on October 6, and just days after a damning United Nations report into the issue.

Okechukwu Ibeanu, who is the UN special rapporteur on the issue, said there was "a strong basis to conclude that the deaths and illnesses were directly and indirectly linked to the dumping waste".

Trader Trafigura says settles Ivorian waste case
Loucoumane Coulibaly and Reed Stevenson, Reuters 20 Sep 09;

ABIDJAN/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - International commodities trader Trafigura said on Sunday it had reached a settlement with thousands of people in Ivory Coast who said they had fallen ill from toxic waste dumped around the economic capital Abidjan.

Each of the 31,000 claimants represented by British law firm Leigh Day and Co would be entitled to damages of about 950 pounds ($1,553), Trafigura board director Eric de Turckheim told Reuters.

Trafigura said the settlement was in no way an admission of liability. An Ivorian group representing the victims said it rejected the offer, and accused the company of exploiting Africa's poverty to end the row and avoid taking responsibility.

Trafigura, one of the world's biggest commodities traders with offices in Geneva, Amsterdam and London, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in relation to the 2006 incident, when slops from a cargo ship it had chartered were dumped in Abidjan, the main city in Ivory Coast.

Trafigura said in a statement that Leigh Day and Co had accepted that experts were unable to identify a link between the slops deposited and any deaths, miscarriages, still births or other serious injuries.

The slops "could at worst have caused a range of short-term, low-level flu-like symptoms and anxiety," it said. Lawyers at Leigh Day and Co could not be reached for comment.

De Turckheim, a co-founder of Trafigura, said the settlement vindicated the firm's stance that the toxic waste did not cause any deaths.

"NOT FAIR"

But the Ivorian National Federation of Victims of Toxic Waste, which says it represents nearly all the victims, accused Trafigura of trying to push through the agreement to avert a class action case due to be heard in a London court next month.

"Trafigura wants to excuse itself morally but it is not fair," Denis Pipira Yao, the group's president, told Reuters.

"The waste was toxic and lethal. Trafigura is proposing 750,000 CFA francs ($1,683) for each victim," he said. "As people are poor in Africa, Trafigura is using money to get away with it. We are not at all happy with this way of doing business and we will work with our lawyers to make it clear."

It was not clear why the compensation figure he cited was different from that stated by Trafigura.

De Turckheim declined to respond directly to Yao's comments, saying Trafigura's settlement was with the 31,000 claimants represented by Leigh Day and Co.

Leigh Day and Co said in a statement that in the last few weeks it had been exploring the possibility of settling the claims with Trafigura.

"We have reached a point where we are now in the process of putting a global deal to the claimants," Martyn Day said.

Trafigura hired a contractor in 2006 to dispose of slops from a ship it had chartered, the Probo Koala. It described the petrochemical waste as residues from gasoline, mixed with caustic washings.

Trafigura said in a press release that the settlement was "in no way an acceptance of liability," but a sign of its social and economic commitment to the region.

"Trafigura also recognises that the slops had a deeply unpleasant smell and their illegal dumping ... caused distress to the local population," it said.

A United Nations report on Wednesday said that on the face of it, there was a strong link between the waste and the deaths of at least 15 people and illness suffered by thousands more. Trafigura called the report "deeply flawed."

The company agreed to a $198 million out-of-court settlement with the Ivory Coast government in 2007, which exempts it from legal proceedings in the West African country.

(Additional reporting by Avril Ormsby; Writing by David Lewis and Reed Stevenson; Editing by Angus MacSwan)