Six people have now died from the toxic waste dumped in the biggest Ivory Coast city, Abidjan, while 9,000 have sought treatment, the government says.

The UN has set up an inter-agency team to respond to the crisis.

A French team is analysing the waste, and says it will produce a report by the end of this week.

The Ivorian government resigned after protests over the toxic waste, and no new administration has yet been formed, threatening the fragile peace process.

The waste came from the ship, the Probo Koala, and has been found in some 10 open-air sites around Abidjan.

Residents complain of a smell of rotten eggs on the streets. Environmental group Greenpeace say the sludge dumped is made up of some 400 tonnes of oil-refining waste.

The company which owns the ship, Trafigura Beheer BV, says it is extremely concerned and has sent oil and mining experts to Abidjan to help the authorities.

It says it informed the authorities and handed over discharges from washing out its oil tanks with caustic soda - known as slops - to a certified local company, Compagnie Tommy.

"I'm feeling very bad in the throat and I have headaches and I cannot breathe properly" - Abidjan resident.

A UN agency said that many of the sites where dumping occurred have still to be fenced off.

"Most of them don't have signalling or warning," it said.

Three company heads are reported to be among seven people arrested in the investigations.

Those affected are being treated for stomach problems, nosebleeds and respiratory illnesses.

The hospital has set up a specialist unit to deal with those suffering from similar symptoms.

(BBC)

.............................................................

All this just because a Shipping company in Europe wants to save Money!!!

I really hope hard actions will be taken...

Yup, some consequences are happening.

"Ivory Coast's entire cabinet resigned on Wednesday over the poisoning scandal, which has triggered street protests by residents."

[URL=http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9B3CC0B9-6325-4D4E-AEBC-916D7C29B91F.htm]Aljazeera.net[/URL] has a few more details to add.

[b]Toxic waste poisons 9,000 Ivorians[/b]
Monday 11 September 2006, 21:55 Makka Time, 18:55 GMT
Toxic waste was dumped at open-air sites around Abidjan

Six people are now dead and nearly 9,000 have been poisoned by fumes from toxic waste that was dumped at open-air sites in Abidjan, the Ivorian health minister says.

Thirty-six health centres, four of them staffed by military medical personnel, as well as two mobile units are treating victims of the poisoning, the president's office said.

About 538 tonnes of toxic liquid waste from a Panamanian-registered ship was dumped at about 10 sites around Abidjan, Ivory Coast's commercial capital.

Jean Denoman, the deputy director of health, said on state television on Monday: "We have as of today a total of 8,887 people that have come for consultation at health centres."

Fumes from the waste - which includes hydrogen sulphide and organochloride - have caused nausea, rashes, diarrhoea and headaches. Greenpeace, the environmental pressure group, said the sludge was mainly oil-refining waste.

Toxic fumes
Six French waste disposal experts arrived in the Ivory Coast on Friday to help neutralise the toxic fumes.

President Laurent Ggabgo's office on Monday announced plans to build a bunker to hold tonnes of dangerous waste in an attempt to "contribute to the resolution" of the crisis, but did not say when construction would begin.

Maca prison has been evacuated after the death of one of at least 120 inmates, a source at facility told the AFP news agency.

The state prosecutor said that seven people, including the heads of three companies - Puma Energie, Waibs and Tommy - which operate at the port in Abidjan, had been arrested. The suspects could face charges of endangering public health that carry prison sentences of between 15 and 20 years.

Chartered vessel
The Greek company that owns the vessel, Prime Marine Management, said that the waste had been removed lawfully. The Probo Koala had been chartered by a Netherlands-based company which said an Ivorian firm had been entrusted with handling the unloaded waste.

Ivory Coast's entire cabinet resigned on Wednesday over the poisoning scandal, which has triggered street protests by residents.

Charles Konan Banny, the prime minister, who has been asked to form a new government, has accused his administration of "negligence" and promised to punish those responsible.

- AFP -

[b]Ivorian cabinet quits over toxic waste[/b]

[URL=http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9528E19D-94A0-44A2-B068-2D92222BF8BA.htm]Aljazeera.net[/URL] Thursday 07 September 2006, 8:59 Makka Time, 5:59 GMT

The government of the Ivory Coast has resigned after toxic waste dumped around the capital city of Abidjan killed three people and made about 1,500 other seriously ill.

Charles Konan Banny, the interim prime minister, offered the resignation of his cabinet to Laurent Gbagbo, the President, during an emergency meeting held to solve the crisis on Webnesday.

"The situation is very serious. That is why I am presenting you with the government's resignation," Banny said.

The emergency meeting followed street protests in Abidjan during which roads were blocked with branches and boulders, preventing medical staff from getting to hospital where dozens lined up for treatment, some wearing paper masks.

The government appealed on TV to the protesters to let medical personnel through and police later fired tear-gas to try to disperse them.

Gbagbo, the president, said that he accepted the government's resignation but suggested that its members should continue their work and prepare to form a new administration on Thursday.

"I accept the resignation of your government but I ask you to manage current business and ask for your presence at the presidential palace tomorrow to form a new government," Gbagbo told Banny.

"At whatever level it may be ... those who are responsible must be hunted down and sanctioned. We have to know the nature of the damage. We cannot sit back and cross our arms."

Waste dumped
Hundreds of residents complained of nausea, sore chests, vomiting and diarrhoea after waste containing hydrogen sulphide was dumped in at least eight open-air sites around the densely populated city.

Authorities said the waste was unloaded from a Panamanian-registered ship on August 19.

A government spokesman said that tests have shown that drinking water has not been contaminated but that all precautions will be taken to protect the population, including relocating those affected.

The French foreign ministry said a team from its office of geological and mineral research was being sent to help evaluate the environmental risks and that a second team would be sent by the weekend to help limit its impact.

Ivory Coast is a former French colony. French peacekeepers have been based there since a civil war ended in 2003.

Three people arrested
The Ivorian state prosecutor said three people linked to the firm responsible for unloading the ship had been arrested.

Prime Marine Management, the Greek company that owns the Probo Koala, the ship that unloaded the waste, said the ship, manned by a Russian crew, was not responsible for the poisoning.

Iorgos Kouleris, the company's director of operations, said that the company was "sorry for the situation".

He said that unloading the waste was legal and that an Ivorian company had been put in charge of the waste after it was discharged.

The government's resignation came a day after rival factions in the West African country failed to reach agreement on key steps towards holding elections by the end of October.

Ivory Coast has been split between the rebel-held north and government-controlled south since a brief civil war in 2002-2003.

I only hope that this time it doesn't end like it USUALLY does!!

Corruption and a bit of money here and there................!

more news on this matter from Aljazeera:

[b]Toxic clear-up starts in Ivory Coast[/b]

Monday 18 September 2006

A clean-up operation to remove hundreds of tonnes of toxic waste from Ivory Coast's largest city began on Sunday, as the government tried to recover from a dumping scandal that has led to at least six deaths and cost two ministers their jobs.

A team of 25 waste removal experts began pumping the hazardous black sludge from the city's main rubbish dump, one of up to 14 sites across Abidjan that the UN says have been contaminated.

The chemical refuse is a byproduct of a fuel shipment apparently dumped illegally in late August by a contractor working for a Dutch commodities company.

The Ivorian government said that at least six people had died from exposure to the waste, while thousands have sought treatment at hospitals.

A UN report said the waste contains a chemical called hydrogen sulfide which, in large doses, can kill people.

The waste was discovered by residents who began complaining of a nauseating stench and persistent health problems such as vomiting, sore throats and headaches last month.

The waste removal operation comes a day after a new 36-member cabinet was appointed. The ministers of transport and environment were replaced and several new posts were created.

Resignations

The entire cabinet resigned last week as a result of the dumping scandal, but almost all were reappointed to their posts.

Rubbish has filled the streets of Abidjan as waste sites have been blocked off.

Protests about the dumping turned violent on Saturday, when the house of a port official was burned down and the deposed transport minister attacked.

Henri Petitgand, a spokesman for the French company removing the waste, said that the clean-up operation was expected to take two weeks.

Donor countries are helping the government pay for the clean-up but Patrick Achi, the infrastructure minister, said those responsible for the dumping were expected to reimburse the costs.

Under the international Basel agreement, which was signed in 1989 to protect poor countries from the dumping of hazardous waste, a country found responsible for the dumping of toxic waste must pay for its removal.